


The Social Rule [DISCONTINUED, NON-CANON]

by Excalipur



Category: Merciful Asriel AU, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dirty Jokes, F/F, F/M, Heavy swearing and cursing, M/M, Multi, No explicit content though, Reading the prequel isn't required though, Some Fluff, Some sex-related jokes, That's Red from the fangame, This fic is my previous one's sequel, lots of ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 16:59:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 50,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5878552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Excalipur/pseuds/Excalipur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been two months since monsters emerged from the Underground.<br/>Even though their leader, prince Asriel Dreemurr, strives to better their future, there's still countless humans that don't trust monsters, and that wish only the worst for them.<br/>Your job is to defend these monsters from those malevolent humans, as Asriel Dreemurr's lawyer...as monsterkind's lawyer.</p><p>And of course, while you're doing it you can make lots of friends...and maybe, even something more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A new beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monsters have rose from the Undeground, and a certain prince stands up to guide his nation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As said in the notes, this work is a sequel of my previous Undertale fic, Not All Heroes Are Born Good (which you can find here http://archiveofourown.org/works/5329151) however it's not required to have read it in order to understand the general plot.  
> What I mean is, it is advised that you read the previous fic before reading this, but it's not necessary.  
> If you plan on reading this fic without reading the one before this, but you still want some questions about the plot answered, ~~then tell me in the comment section.~~ I created a F.A.Q. just for that.  
>   
>  This work is heavily inspired from Sketchit26 Undertale AU and from SamIamNot13 (simplelovelyfanfics) work "Above".  
> I credit these two fine ladies for the AU idea (the former) and the general idea of the fic (the latter). I love you =3  
> Here are the links:  
> http://sketchit26.tumblr.com  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/5206976
> 
> Oh, and here's a link to my previous fic (http://archiveofourown.org/works/5329151)  
> And here's a link to a F.A.Q. in case you don't want to read it and still read this work (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v2FEC9hzs2DEp3_Ekxdl6G3ld_8_I1m5dxLs11Q75h8)  
> If you have any questions that you want to be added to the list, feel free to tell me!

_Hello everyone, and welcome to this edition of Daily America. Today is a...unique day: yesterday, a whole nation of creatures known simply as “monsters” literally came out of the ground and made contact with the authorities. It seems as though the “monsters” have not only a government, but also representatives, which are said to attend to a public conference in a few minutes. I leave the word to our reporter, who is at the scene; Henry, you're free to go..._

_...Hello everyone, yes, I'm here at the press conference in which is said that the monster ambassador will make an announcement; the tension is palpable, at least a hundred other reporters are broadcasting for their own news networks as we're speaking, and a huge crowd is readying as well. However, there is still no sign of the ambassador, which is said to arrive in a few minutes..._

 

As the man on the screen kept saying the obvious, I went to the fridge and took out from the freezer a bottle of white wine and opened it; I proceeded to drink a glass of the substance, then I put it back inside of the fridge. That bottle had been given to me by my parents as a gift for taking my master, and was meant to be used in the party that followed; however, a friend of mine brought his own bottle of wine so there was no need to open another one, and I ended up keeping the bottle.

I was drinking more to alleviate the stress than because I was thirsty, so I decided not to drink anymore since I didn't want to become addicted. I sat on the couch and watched the transmission intently, I didn't want to miss a word of what the reporter was saying even though he wasn't saying anything important, only random pieces of information that were public knowledge.

While I was listening, my cat Hero made his way into my lap, and took the time to cuddle him a little bit: his white and black fur was so shining, and the purring sounds he made every time I caressed him were absolutely delicious. As I was concentrating on my cat, I pondered on the current situation: monsters had risen from below us, and now they were roaming the Surface...well, not roaming yet. The entrance to the mountain where they came from was now heavily guarded, and so it would've stayed until the government came up with a definitive solution.

I wondered on whether the monsters had good or bad intentions: that was the reason that everyone was watching that program, because everyone wanted an answer. Who were these monsters? What did they want from us?

It seemed that the answer to that question would've been answered quickly, since the reporter announced that the ambassador to the monsters had arrived; my heart started beating at an extraordinary rate, as a thousand thoughts raced in my mind. The moment of truth had finally arrived, and I was ready for anything.

Well, almost anything.

Three men got on stage, and two of them sat on two chairs behind the reading desk, while the last one got ready behind the reading desk itself: this guy was a monster, no doubts on that. The first thing I noticed was the fur, thick and white, that covered his whole body (or at least the parts of his body that weren't covered by his clothes), and also his height: he was some inches taller than a normal human, like the two persons behind him. His face reminded me of a goat, with two horns directed backwards and two floppy ears; he had red eyes, and goat-like facial features.

He seemed...very prepared, I can't describe it better: he seemed like he was ready for that moment, that he felt like everything depended on him. I don't know why, but he didn't strike me as particularly dangerous, he looked like a man-sized version of a kid plush.

He was also wearing clothes, as I mentioned earlier: a simple purple robe that covered his whole body, except his head and his...paws?

Okay, those hands were adorable.

The two humans that were with him looked...odd: they looked like normal people, the kind of people you would meet in a bar or at the library, they didn't look like the professional guards that I expected. One of them was a girl, a kid, with fluent brown hair collected in a tail and secured tightly by a red ribbon, and the other one was a man around my age, with short black hair and a killer gaze.

The girl had black eyes, and a soft smile: she was wearing a blue and purple sweater, blue jeans and brown boots; overall, she was really pretty, definitely prettier than your average student. She looked kind, but present: the only word which could describe her in that moment was...determined.

The man didn't show any expression at all, his cold gray eyes didn't let any emotion (if he did prove emotions) reach the cameras, he was wearing a gray shirt with a black tie, a black leather jacket, black jeans and gray shoes.

He seemed...distracted, he wasn't paying much attention to the monster in front of him at all, something pretty weird considering the situation.

“Hello, hello, is this thing working?” the monster tried the device, and for the first time in my life I felt like my life depended on everything that this guy said; the moment you realize that you're listening to the sound check in an interview, you also realize that there's no higher priority in that moment, which is scary.

The monster coughed a bit, as to prepare himself, and then continued “Howdy! My name is Asriel Dreemurr, and I am the prince of monsterkind.” he bowed to the crowd, and then added “...It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”

I tried to understand the information he just gave it to us: this guy had a name, a surname, and was a prince...so the monsters had a monarchy? How did their government even work? If there was a prince, then there was a king...why wasn't he here instead?

“I'm here to pave the road to all the monsters to follow, and to make sure that, once everything is said and done, you won't be scared by the events that will follow. Basically, I'm here to inform you of what is happening and will happen in these future days.”

We won't be scared? This could only mean that something big was on the way...a peaceful invasion, or flat-our war? Event though it looked like the first, I still had doubts on this prince.

“As you've been informed of, my kind has resurfaced in your world after hundreds of years spent underground...I'm surely many of you are scared that this is going to be an invasion, or a war. I'm glad to announce that we don't have any violent intentions, and that we solely want to live in peace on the Surface next to humans...” well, that surely lifted a boulder from my heart. I wasn't sure whether to trust this guy or not, but I decided to indeed trust him: I was already stressed enough, and I needed to get rid of it.

Also, did he just say that they lived underground for hundreds of years? All this time...and nobody knew anything? Now that's impossible, somebody had to know of an underground monarchy of monsters...

“There's so many things to talk about, but I'm afraid our time here is limited, so, we'll be covering the main arguments I believe are of public interest. First, who are we? We're monsters, a race of creatures just like humans but gifted in magic...” suddenly, a small ball of fire appeared over the monster's hand: it was colored of black, and it emanated a dark and gloomy aura “We can control various types of magic as we please, but-” the attention of the crowd was all directed on the flame that levitated over the monster's paw, I'm sure everyone feared the same thing: if they can summon flames as they please, then they can attack us when they want.

Even now.

The monster, noticing the fright of the humans around him (except the two humans behind him, which didn't look scared at all by his demonstration) made the ball of fire disappear and assured “Don't worry, if you aren't comfortable with me showing, then I can stop. It's really not that important...”

I could hear the sighs of relief from my own house; everyone was too scared to make rational thoughts at that point, and the thought of burning to death at random didn't please anyone.

The prince then explained how monsters' bodies worked, and how their physiognomy varied from ours: from what I understood, their own bodies were made of magic, and when they die they turn into dust, because that is the raw form of magic.

As he was explaining, I noticed someone making his way through the crowd: a man in his thirties, who squinted suspiciously everywhere while he approached the monster from the front. Then, while nobody looked at him (except me, of course), he jumped on stage and ran towards the monster. Screams of terror could be heard from the other side, and my heart stopped as I thought of what did this guy just do. Before he could reach the monster, however, the man who was sitting jumped up in the air and, in the blink of an eye, appeared in front of the man (how did he even do that?) and sent him flying through the air.

While the aggressor was surprised and on the ground, the man blocked him and checked him: he found a military knife, which he threw at the monster; the prince caught the knife mid-air and didn't say anything. Two human guards, which were wearing a suit and looked very...professional, came and arrested the aggressor, who didn't look very happy at all.

The man asked the monster to make some space behind the reading space, then he talked in the microphone himself: he didn't emphasize any of his words, it felt like if a really bad teacher was giving the most boring lesson ever “So, you saw what happened to this guy, right? Well, next time someone does something stupid, I won't bother subduing you. I'll directly kill you.”

“Congratulations, you ruined all the work I did!” the monster looked very angry “Now they'll be scared to death! Thanks Dante. I appreciate that.”

“Don't worry, now nobody will try to murder you: isn't that worth the consequences?”

“You more than anyone else should know that even if you weren't here, I would've dispatched that human with ease! Your intervention was counter-producing, you-”

“Guys, can we leave the bickering for later? Asriel, you're still not finished with your speech, aren't you?” finally, the young girl introduced herself in the conversation, she talked with the voice of an angel, and she seemed really worried for her two companions.

“Well then, I'll leave you to finish.” the man returned to his seat, and took out his phone.

For the next minutes, the monster explained a lot of things including the most recent technological advancements of monsterkind and much more.

“I discovered that our technological level is more or less the same as yours, but due to the necessities we had underground we evolved towards certain branches of science that humans have yet to discover. In particular, we found a way to transform pure magic into electrical energy: we possess a machine that can produce a quantitative of energy equal to one of your nuclear reactors using only a tenth of the material cost and without negative drawbacks such as the creation of-” but he wasn't able to finish the sentence because something fell on his head: a small critter, more or less the size of my cat, that started oscillating left and right unbalancing the poor monster “hOI!”

The animal seemed capable of talking, so I presumed it was a monster as well: it had two sets of ears, two cat-like ears and two round-shaped ones, and it was wearing a blue shirt with yellow stripes. It looked like a cat, but it was able to speak, even though (as I discovered soon after) it spoke in a very weird way “Tem needs sum munz! Gote-bro giv Tem sum munz!”

“Temmie! Stop immediately!” the prince tried in every way to shake the other monster away from his head, but without success; then, the man from before, the one that stopped the aggression, approached the prince and helped him take the monster off his face.

“Away you go!” he then launched the critter into space, and it disappeared in the clouds: I was surprised he could do that, this could only mean that he was very, very powerful, or that the monster was very light, or both.

“Don't worry, she's going to be fine.” he reassured, but I didn't expect to find out by myself he was right: out of nowhere, the small monster reappeared over the prince's head and began to beg him for his “munz” again, and this time she fought viciously before being finally detached from his head once more.

“Here, take this money.” the monster calmed herself once the girl showed her some money, which I assumed was what she wanted all along: I wondered who this critter was, to pretend such things from her prince in such a moment. Whoever she was, she was blasted in the air once more, and this time she didn't return; I assumed that she landed safely, but that was just my brain trying to adapt to the reality around itself.

For the rest of the conference, no more accidents or unforeseen events happened: the monster kept talking about a wide variety of arguments, the man fiddled with his phone and the girl listened intently, occasionally helping the monster explain when he didn't know what to say. She seemed to have a certain level of intimacy with him, since she always referred to him by name and he did so as well: from how he called her I assumed her name was Frisk, or something similar.

“Well, it seems like we've reached the end. We still have some time to talk, so if you have any questions this is the right time to ask.”

That sentence caused the end of the world, everyone wanted to ask something, all the reporters had their hands lifted and were screaming to let them ask a question.  
“Since when have monsters been inhabiting the “Underground”?”

“Where did you live before being cast down there?”

“What are you going to do on the surface?”

“Will you create a new country, or will you join the USA?”

The monster answered all the questions happily, but there were a few occasions in which he didn't answer: in this occasions, either the question was personal or not relevant or the guy who asked it wasn't of his liking.

Overall, he answered a lot of questions, and everyone was satisfied: of course, the news are never satisfied of how much information they can get, but at least they got enough questions answered to fill in the front article of their newspapers.

When everything had been said, the three persons that got on stage returned where they came from and the troupes started to unpack their stuff. I turned off the television: I had seen enough to be satisfied myself.

I was about to call my parents, when I remembered that Hero had not eaten his dinner yet, so I gave it to him and watched him devour it intently. As I was watching my cat, my phone rang: my parents, as I expected.

“Hello?”  
“Elizabeth, are you there?” My mom, expected this as well.

“Yes, I'm here.”

“Did you see the news? The conference?”

“Yeah, the one where the...monster was talking?” I still had to accustom to actually use the word “monster” to indicate...an actual monster.

“What do you think about it? I just saw it, I don't trust that monster but he did seem friendly...”

“Yeah, I think the same as well. He seems convinced of what he said...maybe he's telling the truth and there won't be any hostilities between our races...”

“Hah, you're kidding, right? We're in America, those monsters will have a really bad time if they decide to come live here!”

I pondered on what my mom intended: maybe she was right, our country wasn't renowned for being open to strangers, as the past century spent giving rights to black people taught us. But, there still was a chance that integration would've been easy this time: maybe the new generations would've been kinder to the new arrivals than how the old ones were in their own time.

“Whatever, wait and see mom. We'll have an answer in time.”

“I'm sure of it dear. How is your search for a work going?”

That was a touchy subject: even though I had been out of university for a months, I still had not found someone willing to hire me “As usual. Trust me, every day I get closer to getting hired.”

“Of that I am sure. Well, good luck. I love you.”

“I love you too mom.” and I ended the conversation.  
Meanwhile, my cat started ramming against my leg, so I began petting him again. At least he helped me get rid of my stress, he was a fine alternative to wine. Or to monster-related thoughts.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're starting the fic in style!  
> Tell me if this new narrative style is more to your liking, and if you like the concept so far.  
> In a few chapters you'll see where does Strawpoll come into play, for now enjoy your linear storyline =3


	2. An interesting offer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth explains what happened in the two months following that day.  
> Things have been looking really bad for her...but a Sunday morning will change everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings everyone!  
> I noticed that some of you have taken my advice and checked out the "Above" fanfic!  
> I'm asking you to do me a favor: read that fic, and write a comment for the author saying "Hey, this huge dork (me) told me to check out your fic! He says hi." Or something like that... =3  
> At the end of your comment, add #Patata_ar_sugo ...I know it sounds weird, but do it. Why? Why not! I want to see her reaction once she reads your comments, I'm sure she'll ask me what is the meaning of this and I'll laugh so much! =3  
> If you're wondering, that means #Potato_with_sauce. It will become a meme, I swear!

The next two months my life didn't change much, even though I had to accept the fact that monsters could now roam the surface as they pleased: I discovered that the mountain that they came from was actually in another state, and apparently no-one of them came to inhabit Washington, they all lived very close to that mountain. Maybe they lived there because they wanted to, because they enjoyed staying there...or maybe they were just as afraid of us as we were of them.

As for my personal life, things only worsened: turns out having a Master in jurisprudence doesn't guarantee you a work as a lawyer, and I struggled to find the money to keep living in my apartment. I had to do a few jobs that...I wasn't interested in in the slightest: I worked for two weeks as a cashier in a supermarket but I didn't like it and so I started working in an industry, but that turned out to be boring as well.

I studied so hard in my life, and yet nobody hired me: you can be as overly-prepared as you want, as confident as you want, but not always you'll find someone that can see how good you are.

But thankfully, I eventually found that person; however, if someone told me before who I was going to work for I would've punched them in the face.

I woke up a Sunday thinking that it was going to be a day like all others: birds were singing, flowers were blooming...perfect weather for a picnic, too bad I didn't have anyone to have it with, nor the supplies necessary to actually having it.

Hero had became my own personal reveille and every morning, precisely at 06:00, he meowed right in my face and purred over it as well: I can assure you, after a few minutes of that torment you're sure to not only be awake, but fully prepared as well. As a side-effect, I also was pretty angry with the world.  
I got up and poured Hero's food in his side-plate and he started eating it all at once: this way I was sure that he wouldn't have bothered me for at least thirty minutes. I used this time to undress of my pajamas and wear my casual clothes: a white t-shirt, a white formal jacket, white trousers and white shoes.

I really liked white, and at least half of my wardrobe was full of clothes of that color; surprisingly there were some clothes that weren't painted white, but they were mostly used when I went to have dinner with my parents, since they got tired of me always wearing white. After dressing, I prepared my own breakfast: fried egg and a few slices of ham filled me up, that morning I wasn't as hungry as I usually was.

I then exited the house, crossed the road and went to the newsstand right in front of my house to buy a copy of all of his newspapers, then returned home and started reading them all. I didn't read them because I wanted to be informed of the news, but because I wanted to know if there were advertisements for jobs I could've liked, at that point I had given up on becoming a lawyer and I was solely focused on finding a job that would've been...I don't know, interesting. Something that would've made me think “Hey, you didn't study all those years for nothing! You didn't get a Master in jurisprudence way before everyone else for nothing!”...but there weren't any advertisements at all.

That morning I was definitely angry.

But I didn't give up, and used my laptop to look for jobs in my near vicinity on the internet: I found out a few good sites that every day published a list of companies interested in hiring new personnel, but every time I called one of these companies to set an interview they replied that someone came before me and already got the job.

As I scrolled down the list and I started accepting the fact that I wouldn't have had any luck that day either, my gaze got stuck on a certain job offer that looked very odd:

 

**Looking for a lawyer, best if specialized in penology.**

**The interested ones must have an open mind, must be prepared to do work that has nothing to do with being a lawyer and, more than anything else, must not have racial prejudice towards monsters.**

 

Monsters? This has to be a joke, I thought, there's no way a monster can be looking for a human employee, and a lawyer as well...but the place where the work request was located matched the zone where I found out Mount Ebott (the mountain from the which monsters had arisen) was: this was legit.  
Or at least, I hoped it was legit.

 

**To contact us, please send us an e-mail at this address: Deltaincorporated@gmail.com, specifying the subject “work offer” and giving us your curriculum vitae and any other possible piece of information that you think is important. We will consider your e-mail and answer you directly if we believe you have the right characteristics to work for us. This answer will be provided through e-mail to the address you used to contact us and will be provided within twenty-four hours after your e-mail has been sent.**

  
I was thrilled at the idea of finally working somewhere where my talent would've been not only accepted, but welcomed...but I _was_ going to work with, if not for monsters, and that scared me a little bit: they asked me to not have racial prejudices towards them, but would they adhere to the same rule towards humans?

Nevertheless, I immediately opened Gmail and wrote the e-mail like they asked me to:

 

**New message**

**To: Deltaincorporated@gmail.com**

**Subject: work offer**

 

**Hello, I'm asking about the job offer you posted on NewCareer.com.**

**You asked me to give you my curriculum vitae, so I'll put it in the enclosure; there's also to add that I briefly worked for two months for a well-known lawyer in Washington three years ago as a stage, but the studio relocated and I'm not able to provide you with an address or even their telephone or fax number, as I don't know it.**

 

I wasn't sure if I needed to put that last part in the e-mail: since there was no way for them to be sure if I was saying the truth or not, maybe they wouldn't have considered it, maybe they would've even not considered the entire letter thinking that I was a newbie that wrote useless information...

But, I _was_ a newbie, and I wrote that letter in less than a minute because of...well, the emotion I guess. I didn't know what I was doing but I did it anyway, I was desperate to have that work and I was ready to do anything in order to have it.

I wrote my cellphone number just in case and put my curriculum in the enclosure as I said earlier, then sent the letter. For a few minutes I stayed in front of my computer, expecting a reply immediately, but then I realized that I wouldn't have got it anytime soon.

I was an idiot, I thought, they wrote that a reply would've came within twenty-four hours so of course I would've had to wait, maybe even until tomorrow.

I didn't waste any more time though as I immediately went to the bathroom, grabbed a vacuum cleaner and a cleaning cloth and set out with the task to clean my house: after all, it was Sunday, that's what people do on Sundays...right?

Cleaning wasn't a big task, since my mom had taught me to clean a long time ago and I was now able to clean an entire mansion with ease, but a huge problem came from Hero who didn't stop for a second to bother me, seeking to be pet.

After a good two hours spent cleaning the house, I prepared myself a sandwich with ham and checked my inbox: a new email had arrived.

I almost choked on my sandwich, I was that much excited: I controlled who the sender was, and found out it was that Deltaincorporated.

Maybe this was it!

But I reminded myself not to keep my hopes too high, there was still the chance that the content of the letter wouldn't have been of my liking: maybe somebody already asked for the job and got hired, or maybe they flat out rejected me because they didn't like my curriculum...I immediately cast these thoughts aside and opened the letter.

 

**Greetings,**

**We read your e-mail,**

 

My heart was beating in my chest a hundred times faster than usual, and for a second I thought I could've fainted.

  
**...and we think that your curriculum not only is the kind that we're looking for, but greatly surpasses our expectations.**

 

My head started spinning: was this really happening? Did they really want _me_?

 

**We're very interested in you and we would like to know more about you: to fulfill this end, we plan on preparing an interview with you.**

 

An interview? This could only mean one thing: I had not been hired. Yet.

 

**We would love to receive an answer from you within twenty-four hours, you can decide when the interview will take place (even today) but we require you to give us a photo of your house's interior. We ask you to have patience, unfortunately without that photo we can't prepare the interview.**

 

What was this all about? I wasn't sure if to be more concerned about the fact that I could set the interview that day itself or about the fact that they needed a photo of my house: for what purpose anyway?

However, I was too desperate to obtain that job to look over these questions, and without finishing reading the rest of the e-mail I immediately wrote an answer:

 

**New message**

**To: Deltaincorporated@gmail.com**

**Subject: Re: work offer**

 

**Hello, I read your reply and am ready to do this interview even right now!**

**Of course, that only if you're ready as well, I don't have any programs this week so if it's easier for you to interview me later it's fine as well...**  
  
I wrote the rest of the e-mail and added as an enclosure a photo of my kitchen that I took the day I moved in that apartment; I then sent the e-mail without double-checking it, and waited excitedly for an answer that I knew I would've received soon.

I had many questions in my head, but the biggest one was: “Would I have been hired?”

After thirty minutes, a new e-mail appeared in my inbox, from the same company that I had contacted a few hours before.

 

**Greetings,**

**If you're fine with doing the interview right now, then it's fine for us as well.**

**We'll do the interview in your own home, since we can't do it anywhere else.**

 

Err, what? In my house?

 

**We'll be coming in a few minutes, expect us soon.**

**Sorry.**

 

What were they talking about? For a second I thought that I had been stalked or what not: I gave them a picture of my house's interior, not exterior! Even if they knew in what city I lived, there was no way they would've known where I actually lived...

The way those people approached me, however, surprised me even more than that e-mail.

Without warning, a tornado of black dust appeared in my kitchen, and I closed my eyes as an automatic measure of self-defense...from what I was defending myself, I wasn't sure.

When I re-opened them, two people were standing between the table and the fridge, two people I knew too well...or better, I didn't know them: one of them was the monster I saw on the TV the day following the one in which monsters were revealed, that prince...Asriel Dreemurr; the other one was the male human who accompanied him, Dante if I remembered correctly.

In two months, I saw them plenty of times on the news: every time they appeared, the prince was the one who spoke and the human just...looked around the area. I figured out that the human was his body-guard, but they had more of a friendly relationship than an employer-employee one.

“What the hell is happening?” I yelled at them, as loud as I possibly could.

“Sorry for intruding in your house like this, my name is-” the monster tried introducing himself, but I didn't let him “Stay back you two!” I closed my eyes again and grabbed the first thing that was on the table at my left: it was soft, and furry, but I didn't know what I actually grabbed “I'm not afraid to defend myself!” I pointed my...weapon at them, childishly hoping that those two intruders would've backed off.

I heard some footsteps, then a voice that wasn't the same as the one that tried to communicate with me a few seconds ago say “Oh, ma quanto sei tenero!”. The voice spoke in a way that I didn't understand, maybe it was speaking a foreign language, I thought it was either Spanish or Italian, but I was no-one to tell.

I felt that whatever was in my hands disappeared, or to explain it better it was taken away from me: when I re-opened my eyes, I saw Hero in the hands of the man, purring excited as the human being right in front of me petted him on his forehead “Oh yes, I should totally be afraid of you. You could kill me with your cuteness.”

“Dante, please don't toy with her pets. They're not yours.”

“Then, can I pet him?” the human was talking with me, he was looking me in the eyes, and for the first time I could look into his emotionless, gray eyes in person.

“S-Sure...” I guess...something snapped in me: maybe it was because I was too stressed, or because I couldn't take that ridiculous situation anymore, but I started acting like all that was normal, without thinking too much about it “He loves being pet under his chin.”

“Okay. I'll leave you two alone, I'm sure you have lots of stuff to talk about.” he sat on the sofa, and he kept on petting Hero who looked like all his dreams in his life had come true.

Mine, however, yet had to.

“Again, sorry for the intrusion. I swear that, in any other circumstance, I would've resorted to other solutions in order to meet with you...but alas, this is not the case.” he spoke in the same way he spoke at conferences, a formal English that I thought suited a prince very well “My name is Asriel Dreemurr, prince of monsterkind.” he then bowed to me.

A prince bowing to a jobless lawyer...I never thought I would've seen that happen, but it was happening, and to me as well.

“It is a pleasure to meet you.” he finished.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter comes out this satuday: be prepared everyone!  
> However, if I've been lazy before I don't know how lazy I'll be now: tomorrow comes out XCOM2, and I've been waiting to play that damn game forever! =3  
> So, even though I'll keep trying to have a fixed upload schedule, I can't promise anything. Sorry.


	3. The interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth gets interviewed by Asriel...and then by someone else?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so...this chapter will be kind of weird for you guys that didn't read my previous fic, but don't worry: if you don't understand something, feel free to ask me.  
> A F.A.Q. is coming soon, possibly tomorrow (if I find a good way of making it, and I ask you for help on this matter) which will make life easier for everyone.  
> I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you guys later.

“Again, I'm sorry for what happened. I wish I could've come up with a better way to approach you...but unfortunately, time was running out and I needed to act fast...”

Now that things had calmed down a little bit, I could finally take a better look at the monster that was right in front of me: Asriel Dreemurr, prince of monsterkind...I would've never expected to meet him, in my own house for that matter!

He wasn't wearing his usual purple robe that he always wore at conferences and public appearances: he was wearing a sleeveless black and white jacket, which reminded me a lot of waiters' uniforms; without sleeves, I could see the prince's arms, that looked very strong even though they didn't look particularly muscular. He was also wearing black trousers, but he wasn't wearing shoes...but then again, I seriously doubted those paws would've fitted in a normal shoe.

“Excuse me?” he seemed a little perplexed “Are you listening to me?”

“W-What? Oh, sorry...I got a bit lost looking at you, haha...”

“W-Well, I guess...that's a bit normal. You never saw a monster before, right?” he was caring, even if I was a complete stranger to him.

“Not so up close, no...but I did saw you on the television!”

He looked away, maybe he didn't enjoy talking about that “Oh, I-if you're not comfortable talking about that, then...”

“Thank you.”

We spent some seconds analyzing each other, he was trying to figure out something with me and I took the opportunity to do the same with him: he looked calm, but also...intrigued.

“As I specified before...” he continued “...This work requires you not to possess racial prejudices towards monsters...are you sure you're not scared, angered, or overall disturbed by our presence...by my presence?”

“Well, maybe things will be weird at the start, as I said before the only things I know about monsters come from your appearances on the television news...but I think I can handle it. Well, as long as you're not total douches, of course. I hate that kind of people.”

Did I really say “as long as you're not total douches” in front of a prince? Well, now I was screwed: either this guy had a great sense of humor, or my probability of getting the job would've lowered considerably...

“Of course. I can assure you that, even though there are some...interesting members in my staff, they would all accept you without complaining.”

He drank it! And he took it way better than I expected too!

But what did he mean when he said “in my staff”? Was I going to...work directly for him?

“Sorry, mister Dreemurr...”

“Please, call me just Asriel. Mister Dreemurr is my father, hehe.”

“R-Right...Asriel...” calling him like that felt a bit weird. It felt like he wanted me to call him like I would call a friend, and I wasn't ready for that “Can I have some...details on the job, please?”

“Oh, right. Now that I'm sure you have the attitude to work for me, I can explain to you what I would hire you for.”

So I was right, he did want me to work for him. I was so excited! But also scared...

“I've been striving each day to better the relationships between humans and monsters...but I find myself in a world where cunning and tricky people dominate, and I'm not ready to deal with them. I lack knowledge about how your world works, and I admit that I need help. I need someone who can explain to me the mechanisms that the Surface operates on, someone who can unravel all the tricks that these awful people try to bait me into...”

“A lawyer.” I straight-forwardly said.

“Exactly. I read your curriculum, three times: you're the kind of person I'm looking for.”

“T-Three times? W-Well, I'm not perfect...maybe I'm not ready to work for someone as important as you are...”

“You say that, but you're lying: you're confident in your abilities, you firmly believe to be the best of the best. But you're scared of me, and that prevents you from being yourself in this interview.”

How did he know? How did he know I was lying, did he already make a complete scan of my personality in...what, three minutes?

“I would suggest you to take a minute to focus...free your mind of all the negative thoughts, and concentrate only on the questions I ask you, okay?” if I found him caring before, now I found him protective: it wasn't me trying to be hired, it was him trying to convince me into getting hired.

But I played along “Okay...let's do this.”

“Good. If you're interested in being my lawyer, then I should tell you what you would be doing in my office: you would be aiding me in preparing my speeches...”

“Writing your speeches? I never saw you read anything in all those interviews and conferences...”

“I prepare them, then I learn them. So I don't need to read them on the spot, and I can focus simply on talking. When I can't remember something, I...improvise. Sort of.”

“Okay, sorry for interrupting you. What else would I be doing?”

“Helping me prepare the laws. Our law system on the Surface is the same as the one that is in vigor Underground, but the human authorities require me to write down all of the laws that are currently active and any new one that I decide to formulate. If you could help me rectify any mistake that I make, or if you have suggestion on how to make them more...human-friendly, then that would be appreciated as well.”

So, not only was he the one to make the rules, he also wanted me to help him make them? I almost fainted, but I resisted the stress for the sake of the interview “Lastly, I...” he didn't finish his sentence.

He closed his eyes, and didn't speak for a little bit.

“Err, lastly what?” I tried to restart the conversation, but to no avail.

When he finally re-opened his eyes, they were of a much brighter red than before: what was just a dark shade of red a few seconds ago was now the color of blood “ **Hello there.** ” his voice also got darker, it didn't feel like him at all; my legs started shaking, it's weird to say it out loud but I didn't feel like I had in front me the same person that was cheering me a few minutes ago, but an entirely different person...

I heard a noise from behind me, then a voice say “Chara, stop being scary as shit.” when I looked behind, I saw the human holding a gun towards the monster, and he looked ready to shoot “I would like you not to kill her, please.”

“K-Kill me?” now I was scared, what was happening right now?

“ **Relax, I'm not going to do anything to her...I just want to ask her some questions, and then end the interview. Is that so wrong?** ” Asriel's voice was now bearing a slight tone of irony, and I couldn't tell which one of the two men that were in my house right now was being more sarcastic.

“Well then, I'll let you do as you please.” the gun that was in the human's hand...disappeared, somehow, and then he started walking away towards the corridor, maybe directed somewhere else “But, if when I return I find her corpse, there will be consequences.” he finally said, and left with my cat.

“ **Well, now that that interlude is over, we can continue.** ” the monster lent me his hand, probably expecting me to shake it “ **First off, introductions: I already know your name, I was listening all this time.** ”

“W-What?” I was confused, I didn't know if this was a prank...or if I really was talking to someone else, someone different from the Asriel Dreemurr who was interviewing me.

“ **...But, you don't know me. So, greetings. I'm Chara Dreemurr.** ”

“I-I don't understand...aren't you Asriel?”

“ **You can consider me as a...different ego, sleeping inside of Asriel until I decide to come out...and handle business myself.** ”

“So, you're like...a side-personality, right?” I tried to make order in the chaos that I had in my head in that moment, but everything felt too surreal to even try.  
“ **Not exactly. I'm not a different personality, and we do not suffer from multiple personality disorder: I'm simply another person, living inside of my sibling's body.** ”

“Y-Your sibling? You mean that...you're Asriel's brother? Or sister?” the person that I had in front of me right now did introduce themselves as Dreemurr...so they at least had to be part of his family. Sadly, I didn't know whether “Chara” was a male or female name, I never heard that name in my life before...”

“ **But I'm getting off-track, we still have an interview to conclude. Are you fine with me leading it?** ” he asked for my approval, but you didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out it was a rhetorical question.

Nevertheless, I answered “Of course.”

“ **Good. As a matter of fact, the two things Asriel asked you to do before...they aren't the real reason we need a lawyer: that's just him being the insecure crybaby that he usually is and trying to unload a huge amount of work onto you.** ” I wanted to ponder a little bit on the information they just gave me, but they immediately continued “ **The real reason we need a lawyer is this.** ”

They lent me a piece of paper, which was signed by...the President of the United States of America himself, apparently!

 

**Greetings, Mr. Dreemurr,**

**Due to the recent circumstances that ensued at Ebott, we decided to act against the crimes that keep rising in your city. We'll create a tribunal at Ebott, run by the finest judges and prosecutors that this nation has to offer.**

**From now on, all cases that involve monsters will be judged by two tribunals, a monster one and a human one: if both tribunals find the defendant guilty, then they'll be sent to one of our prisons to serve their sentence, if you both find the defendant not guilty they'll be released immediately without consequences.**

**If you find the defendant guilty but we find them not guilty, then the defendant will be released in our country but they'll be prevented from entering Ebott forever; if we find them guilty but you don't, then it'll happen exactly as if we both found them guilty.**

**The monster tribunal will judge the defendant before the human one, and any information that you find useful and even the verdict that you'll emit will be considered accurately by our judges...**

 

“Wait, but this is wrong! This way they have more power than you actually do!”  
“ **Exactly. When Asriel spoke about malevolent persons before, he referred to this.** ” he realized what he just said, so he quickly pointed out “ **Of course, this document wasn't made by the President: there's always someone who does all the dirty work behind the scenes, I'm sure that guy doesn't want stuff like this to happen...probably.** ”

“...I guess...”

“ **Anyway, we need a lawyer to defend eventual monsters that might be called in court wrongfully, both in our tribunal and in the human one. That is...or rather would be your primary job.** ”

“I...I understand.” I finally managed to get a hold on the situation: now that I was thinking less about the guy that I was talking to and more on what they were actually saying, everything felt less complicated...more clear.

“ **And now, we get to the part that I'm less excited about...your payment.** ” they proceeded to pour a sack of shiny golden coins on the table, right over the document that I just finished to read: I counted all the coins, and found out that on that table there were exactly a hundred of them.

“ **Each of these coins...** ” they continued, but they were snorting a little bit while talking “ **...Is worth exactly five US dollars...** ”

“So, right now, on this table, there's exactly five-hundred dollars?”

“ **Precisely** **. This would be your daily payment.** ” I was excited...no, ecstatic...well, I was wordless back then. Five-hundred dollars...a day! That would've answered all the problems that I had back then!

“ **However, five-hundred dollars in the US and five-hundred dollars in Ebott are two different things...over there, it's not that much of a payment. It's more or less enough to eat and allow yourself some daily entertainment...maybe enough to buy a shiny thing, every once in a while...** ”

Now I wasn't as thrilled...but, in a few years, if I collected enough money, I could've returned in my country and become a millionaire! I would've been so rich I could swim in a pool of money, like Scrooge McDuck!

“What about my house? Is this enough to rent a small apartment at Ebott?” I politely asked.

“ **Well, here's a part I hate even more than the money...** ” they put their paw over their eyes, it seemed to me like they didn't want to look at me in the eyes “ **...We...you...you would be living in our home. For free.** ”

Living with my employer...a monster... “ **And also, you wouldn't be the only one to live in our apartment. There's also...her...** ”

“I'm ready for anything, A-...sir!” I figured this “Chara” would've probably liked to be called with an epithet, I don't know why but I associated “Asriel” with good, and “Chara” with bad. It was probably because this guy looked as shady as...a shadow. What a bad joke.

“ **Does that mean you accept?** ”

“O-Of course sir! I'm ready to start working when you say so!”

“ **Dammit, why did you have to accept...** ” they didn't look to pleased with my decision at all “ **...Now I'll have to tolerate you as well...I can already tell you're going to be a bother...but at least now we have a counter to this stupid document...** ”

After a few formalities, such as signing the employment contract, they finally decided that it was settled and got up from their chair.

“ **One last thing.** ” they seemed very concerned “ **Asriel is my sibling...my family. If I find out that you're a dirty spy...or someone I don't like in general, I'll make sure to kill you personally.** ”

I gulped at their sentence, but then they added “ **Well, goodbye. I'll let the overly-protective goat take over from now on.** ”

Once again they closed their eyes, but this time it took only a few seconds for them to reopen them: the look of dread that I felt scanning me for the last few minutes disappeared, and the kind, caring one from before reappeared.

Asriel ran to me immediately, seemingly in distress “Oh, thank goodness you're still in once piece. Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?”

I tried to comfort him the best I could, and after some time everything went back to normal “Well, now that everything is done and that you've accepted my job offer, I guess it's time to move you to Ebott.”

“Yes, about that...do you have, like, a private jet or a train waiting for us, or do we have to...”

“There's good news and bad news. Good news: instead of using a plane, or a train, or even a car, we'll arrive to Ebott through...teleportation.”

Teleportation? I knew that monsters could use magic, but teleportation...memories of my childhood passed through my brain, making me remember when I read all those books about fantasy and I imagined myself a powerful witch, capable of doing anything that I wanted...

“Dante can use an ability that we call “blink”. He can blink anywhere he wants, but he has to have seen it before: that's why we required a photo of your apartment before, he needed to envision the place where we were going to go in order to...well, go there.”

“W-Wait, so humans can use magic too?”

“He materialized a weapon right in front of you a few minutes ago, I'm surprised you find _this_ odd.” thinking back on it, I didn't see him pull out the pistol from anywhere, and the fact that it just...disappeared in thin air should've given me some insights on the man that was petting my cat.

“Bad news: blinking is a very nauseating experience for eventual passengers. Which means that it's going to be the worst two seconds of your life.”

“Well...sure, I can handle it. Hey, now that you're talking about him, where's this Dante?”

We searched for him all around the apartment, and finally found him in my bedroom...talking to my cat “No, I can't help you with your plans for world domination...yet. But, if you do arrive to the cloning machine step, call me: I would like a clone of myself for when I have to clean the house...”

I coughed to signal him my presence, and he finally deigned us of a glance “Oh, you're done. You've been hired, right?”

I nodded, and he continued “Good, I hope you'll be as entertaining as I originally thought. One that uses her cat as a mean of defense...is surely an interesting partner. Even though, you weren't half wrong using this cat as a weapon: he is somewhat weird.”

“Excuse me? Are you insulting my cat perhaps?” I was very passionate about Hero, but I was joking a little bit there.

“Oh jeez, look at the time.” he looked at the watch that he had on his right wrist: it looked like a normal watch, but instead of “1, 2, 3...” it had the word “bad” written all over it “I got work to do.”

“You still have to teleport us to Ebott, Dante. Your personal agenda comes after your job.” Asriel seemed slightly upset by the human's reaction, but not too much.

“Did you consider that this girl now has to contact the owner of the complex and give back her house?”

“The apartment is mine: I don't have to pay the rent.”

“Oh, good. Then I suggest you to rent your house, this way it's still going to be yours _and_ you'll gain some extra money. Either way, you still have some stuff to do before you move to Ebott...and I have lunch with my girlfriend. Believe me, you don't want to make her angry. See you.” and with that, he disappeared, leaving behind only a small tornado of black dust that vanished a few seconds afterwards.

“Is he always like this?” I asked Asriel.

“Usually he's even worse. But I can't deny the fact that he always gets the job done. And frankly, I've met his girlfriend: he's right. That woman is the devil incarnated.”

I decided to dedicate the rest of the morning to preparing the house for potential renters, and then I prepared lunch for my new employer...the idea of working for a monster, and such a weird one too, excited and terrified me.

I was going to work for a monster who has a good and an evil side, with a guy that is possibly even worse than him for a partner...and there's also that other person that that Chara mentioned: was this person another employee of Asriel?

My life was about to change, and I could only hope for the best...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now...STRAWPOLL!  
> How does it work: thanks to Strawpoll, you'll be able to select who do we meet next!  
> You can only choose one preference, and the options are very limited: originally I wanted you to be able to choose from a wide variety of characters, but then I realized that not many people participate in this sort of things anyway, so it's best if we go a little slow, and I let you participate in multiple Strawpolls.  
> Oh, and the characters are crypted. With Tarot Cards' Arcana (Those who read my previous fic know how much I love tarot cards =3).
> 
> Here's the Strawpoll! I beg you, please participate =3 http://strawpoll.me/6745817


	4. The High Priestess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth finally arrives in Ebott, and meets Asriel's sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to explain you how do the chapters born from your decisions in the Strawpoll work: we're going to meet the character you chose, that's for sure, but there will be interactions with other characters as well, sometimes these characters will already be known to the protagonist, sometimes not.  
> We'll still mainly focus on the character you chose, however, and these unknown characters will eventually get their own chapter.  
> However, do keep in mind that not all chapters will be derived from the Strawpoll.

Preparing lunch for my boss...for Asriel, was one of the weirdest experiences I ever did in my life: I cooked spaghetti with tomato sauce, and right after I served him he asked me “Have you cooked spaghetti before?”

“Uh...yeah, why do you ask? You don't like them?”

“No, it's just that...well, I had a cook, once...he made me go through an indigestion of spaghetti...and he didn't know how to cook them properly as well. I'll let you imagine the details.”

“Oh, I'm sorry...well, I promise you: these are actually pretty good.”

After a few minutes of eating he commented that, for a human dish, my spaghetti was delicious: to a normal person, that would be a weird comment to receive, but I learned from one of his interviews that monsters are used to eat special food made with magic, that looks like normal food but dissolves immediately once it arrives in the stomach; I remember him saying that monsters weren't used to...eject their food after eating it...but when I inquired him about it, he replied that he was getting used to going to the bathroom.

“Expelling feces is still kind of weird to me, but-”

“Please, don't talk about that! You're making me want to puke!”

We laughed for a little bit, and then finished eating; after a few minutes spent talking, mostly about random stuff to break the ice, Asriel's “assistant”, Dante, returned from his date: he was wearing a really formal attire, but it didn't vary too much from the one he was wearing an hour ago. He just didn't have his jacket anymore and was wearing a black scarf.

“I assume the date went well? Otherwise you wouldn't be already here.” Asriel asked.

“I made a mistake telling her that I had to bring you two to Ebott: she insisted to end the date before the time and she forced me to come here and “do my job”. At least I managed to drink my coffee...”

Asriel was right when he told me the seconds spent teleporting would've been the worst of my life: even though it only lasted an instant, it felt...horrible, I felt like I needed to puke for real this time; thankfully, the sensation disappeared a few seconds afterwards, and I already fully recovered half a minute later.

“How can you do this all the time and not feel like this?” I asked Dante.

“I dunno: maybe it's because I'm the one blinking, but I never feel bad after doing it. Asriel's getting better at handling it, possibly because we have to teleport all the time to not be late for interviews and stuff.”

“Talk for yourself, please.” the monster replied, making me giggle a little bit.  
I realized that we weren't inside an office, but a house, precisely the living room: there was a sofa, a gigantic television and a few bookcases next to the wall filled with books of all shapes and sizes; I recognized some of them as popular novels, but others were completely unknown to me.

“Hey, you're back already?” a feminine voice came from an adjacent room, and we were soon greeted by a young girl: she was wearing only a blue t-shirt, a pair of green trousers and green slippers. I also noticed she was wearing a pink bracelet on her right arm.

I remembered this girl from the day in which I saw Asriel for the first time: she was one of the two humans accompanying him, the other one being Dante. She didn't talk a lot in that instance, even though she did look like a kind girl, but I never saw her ever since; until now, of course.

“We're back, and before you ask, she said yes.” Asriel approached the girl and hugged her tightly, and she returned with as much power: something about that hug struck me as incredibly cute, but I didn't comment in any way.

“She? Oh, I expected your new employee to be a male...” the girl freed herself from the embrace, and inspected me in the same way Asriel did; with an ironic smile, she added “Maybe with sculpted muscles, a sexy gaze, someone as beautiful as the Sun, you know what I'm sayin'?”

I didn't know if she was joking or not, but before I could say anything Dante replied “What, are you saying that I'm not sexy? I'm so sexy that the producers of Twilight asked me to supersede Edward Cullen, you know.”

She started laughing, and for some strange reason I felt like laughing with her: it wasn't a malice-filled laugh, it was that kind of laugh that just...infects you, and you want to laugh as well “Sure, and after that you can star in Beautiful!”

“Oh God, please not Beautiful!”

After a few bad jokes that neither me nor Asriel took part in, Dante warned us that he needed to get back to work “I still have to confirm that rumor, by the way. When I'll receive new information about it, I'll call you.” the human made the symbol of calling someone, and then started leaving “A dopo.”; he disappeared in a small tornado of black dust, leaving only me, Asriel and this girl in the room.

“Oh, I haven't introduced you two yet. Elizabeth, she's Frisk, Frisk, she's Elizabeth.” the girl approached me happily, and shook my hand vigorously “I'm so excited now that you're here! Oh, and sorry about the “sexy man” joke from before: it was just to try make Dante smile.”

“The pleasure is mine, Frisk.” I didn't know how...important this girl was: she seemed to know Asriel really well, and Dante too. However, I had too little information about her to understand who she really was.

“Can I have your attention, please?” Asriel seemed like he had to announce something “I need to prepare both Elizabeth's new room and her new office; while I make sure that her new room meets all her standards, I would love you two to...converse, or play something. But, do not exit the house, please.”

“Hey, I'm twelve: I'm too old for a babysitter!” Frisk replied, with a faint accent of irony.

“She's not going to babysit you: she's not only my new employee, but also our new guest, and I believe you want to know more about her as much as I do.” he winked at me, and that made me blush slightly “Your new room is upstairs, I'll call you once I'll have everything set up.” he then left towards the upper floor, and now I realized I was alone in the living room with Frisk.

“Soooo...do you want to talk?” she asked me, a bit shyly.

“Of course.” I answered, and we both sat on the sofa and started conversing.

“So, you're going to work for Asriel as his new lawyer, right?”

“Yes, at least that's what I understood.” from what the prince...and his very weird other personality said, it seemed like being his lawyer would've been but one of many tasks.

“First things first, thank you for joining. Asriel deserves all the help he can get, and...well, I appreciate that you're here, that's all.” the way she pronounced that sentence...she really meant it. She truly appreciated the fact that I, a complete stranger to her, was helping her...friend?

“Secondly...do you know what you've just signed up for?” once more, I didn't know if she was joking or not: from the looks of it, she wasn't “You're about to work for the ambassador of monsters to humanity, and that's no small task. Besides, you're about to work with really, _really_ weird people. You already met Dante, and even though he is la crème de la crème, he's not the only one with...well, a truly singular personality.”

Dante seemed...odd, that was true, but he didn't look like a bad person at all: I was confident I could've worked with anyone, as long as...well, they didn't preemptively hate me or anything.

“I understand. I'm not used to being around strange people, but I'll try to be as friendly as I should be.” I said that phrase in a determined tone, it came natural.

She closed her eyes and giggled, she seemed really cute like that “Again, thank you. Tolerating Dante isn't as easy as it seems, but hey, at least you won't be working with him 24/7!”

“I thought that Chara was the weirdest person I met this morning...” I replied.

“You...you know about them?” she inspected me, touching me on the arms, the legs, etcetera “Are you hurt somewhere? Are you hit, burnt, are you on the verge of death?”  
“What? No!” I pushed her away, before she could touch somewhere she wasn't supposed to “I mean, they weren't the most friendly person I ever met...or even the most normal, for that matter, but they didn't hurt me at all!”

“Phew, thank goodness!” she relaxed a bit “But if you do know about them, then that means that...during the interview...”

I proceeded to tell her about what happened during the interview, and all her stress vanished “Well, good job: if you managed to make a good impression on Chara as well, then that means you really are the right person for this job!”

“Good isn't the right word at all...”

“If you're still alive, then that means you did a good impression.” I gulped, that was the second time someone told me I could've died due to that Chara “They're trying to be more...stranger friendly, but being a huge dork is in their nature. You have to excuse them in advance.”

“It's still...weird. Having a boss that has...somebody else in his body is very, very unusual.”

“How much do you know about them?” she seemed interested in the matter.  
“Well, they said that they were Asriel's sibling...and also that they're not a split personality, but a whole other person living inside of him. Maybe you can tell me something more?” I asked full of hope.

“Hmm...listen, I can't tell you anything about them: it wouldn't be right. Eventually, you'll learn the whole story, I'm sure of it, but for now the only thing that I can do is confirming what they just said.”

I was a little displeased with her, but I understood her reasoning. I took the opportunity to ask her something I wanted to ask her from the very beginning “Are you friends with Asriel?”

“Friends? We're much more than that!” her smile got slightly bigger, and she looked at the ceiling “We're like brothers, we promised to always be by each other's side...always.”

“Since when?” I was really interested, I never heard that Asriel had a sister, a human one too.

“It's been only two months, but...” she looked away, as to not look me in the eyes “...To be honest, it has been much more than that.”

I wanted to press her, but I decided not to: she didn't look like she wanted to keep talking about that anymore.

“Tell me more about Asriel, please.”

We talked about my new boss for at least ten minutes: she kept saying that he was the most kind, gentle and good person that she ever met and, even though to a normal person that would've been quite boring and repetitive, I found it adorable. She really loved her brother, maybe she even idolized him: I had never been so attached to my brother, in fact we were always fighting on everything!

However, we did grow quite close and we were already there to support each other: I guess that's how it worked for Frisk and Asriel too, maybe they were even more intimate than me and my brother.

However, while she was in the middle of explaining to me why, even though he was eighty (something I would've never assumed on my own) he was actually eighteen, we heard a noise coming from the upper floor, a desperate groan that, from the looks of it, belonged to Asriel.

“Is he feeling well?” I asked preoccupied.

“Did he eat common food for lunch?” she answered my question with another question.

“Yeah...oh right! So...is he at the bathroom right now?”

She giggled, she didn't look like she was troubled by the situation at all “I know I should be worried for him and stuff, but hearing him lament is always funny as heck!”

“Please, mercy!” I could hear him talk to himself from the couch, and I had to admit it was quite exhilarating.

“Sorry, that's not something I can spare you from!” Frisk replied, giggling even more than before.

After five minutes, we finally heard the flush and we finally saw Asriel come downstairs: he looked drained, out of energy “Do you remember when I told you I was getting used to using the bathroom?”

“Yeah?” I could barely contain myself.

“Forget about it. It's still a pain.” he went in the room from where Frisk came to meet us from and exited from it with a bottle of orange juice “If you don't have anything better to do, Frisk, please show Elizabeth the house. After all, I'm almost finished.” he climbed the stairs that led to the upper floor and vanished.

“Okay, first, do you want to see the house from the outside?”

“Yeah, that's fine by me.”

She led me to another door in the living room that turned out to be the exit: in front of me there was a small garden, with a stone path that led to the road; the garden was full of flowers, each of them was colorful and unique, it was truly a paradise for the eyes.

We got all the way to the sidewalk, I noticed there was a black car that I didn't recognize parked in front of the house, maybe it was Asriel's but I wasn't sure, and only then we turned around and got a look at the house: it wasn't very big, it only had two floors, but it was very beautiful. It was painted in the classic yellowish white that covers the surface of almost all houses on the planet, but the roof wasn't painted with the usual stereotypical red, but in black. Green ivy was growing on the walls of the house, but it only contributed to it's overall beauty; I had only dreamed of living in a house like that, but now it was real.

We returned inside before anyone could notice our presence, and she showed me the kitchen: the fridge was well-furnished with what I presumed was magical food, I knew it wasn't normal food because I didn't recognize any of the brands. There was a vast assortment of cutlery and silverware, and even a complete tea set. Everything was finely decorated, and Frisk seemed very proud of their collection.

We entered the living room once more and she showed me another room, which turned out to be the bathroom.

“Wasn't the bathroom upstairs?” I inquired my companion.

“We have two bathrooms, and two bedrooms. The one upstairs is bigger and has a shower.” in fact, this bathroom was quite small: it only had a toilet, a sink, a mirror over the sink and a small white drawer; inside of the drawer there were two brushes, some mouthwash, dental floss, everything a dentist would recommend their patients.

“Have you seen Asriel's teeth?” she commented ironically.

“When he laughed, I got a nice view. Do you use knives or his teeth to eat?” I replied with another joke.

She giggled once more, I could already tell I had to get used to her doing that “I like you. Not everyone can keep up with my horrible sense of humor.”

After the trip to the bathroom, we climbed the stairs that were in the living room and found that they led to a corridor, there were some rooms at my right and some to my left. The left hallway was slightly longer than the right one.

“At our left, there's the other bathroom, the one we use to get prepared in the morning, and Asriel's room. Which is off-limits.” I took that information for true, but after an instant she added “Just kidding. You can visit it any time you want. But maybe it's best you wait a little bit before doing that, unless he invites you personally. Don't take it the wrong way, please.” I didn't know what she was implying, but I dismissed the thought rapidly as she continued to explain the house “At our right there's my room. To be precise, our room.”

“Are you okay with me sleeping in the same room as you do?” I asked.

“Of course! But...when I have to wear my pajamas, please stay outside the room. I need my privacy, you know!”

I laughed, and assured her that I would've done as she asked.

We opened the door that led to our room, and found ourselves in the bedroom that Frisk owned: the walls were painted in coral red, and the floor was painted in white and black, like a checkerboard.

In one end of the room, there were two beds, positioned in the corners of the room. Each bed had a very small wooden drawer next to them, but one of them (which I assumed belonged to Frisk) had a small lamp next to it, while the other one had nothing on top.

On the other side of the room, there was a wooden desk and a huge wardrobe, so big it occupied the entire portion of the wall not taken by the desk. Frisk later explained to me that she used the desk to do her occasional homework and the wardrobe...well, keeping her clothes wasn't it's primary function, but at the time I didn't know it.

Asriel was lying on a bed, the one next to the empty drawer, and looked very satisfied “All cleaned up, just in time.” he muttered to himself.

He then noticed our presence, and got up from the bed “Well, hello there. You've seen the house, right?” he politely inquired.

“Yes, I did: it's truly magnificent, even though I expected you to live in...like, a castle, or something like that!”

“I did, in the Underground, when I was little. However, when I came to the Surface I decided to live in a normal home...that's where I lived for fifty years, after all, and it was quite nice. My parents, however, live in a house that could be mistaken for a castle...force of habit, I guess.” he laughed a bit, and I noticed than when he laughed he always closed his eyes, like Frisk did. The more I imagined the two of them together, acting as siblings, the more I wondered how did she manage to tolerate this Chara.

He asked me to look outside the window, and I did just as he asked: I could see the road, and some other houses which, even though they were not as good-looking as ours, they were indeed very pretty. They were all colored differently, like the flowers in our garden, which created quite the beautiful neighborhood. I was delighted to be living there.

“Anyway, this is your room. Unfortunately, you won't have the time to settle in: we need to get to the Town Hall immediately.”

“Town Hall?”

“It's fourteen o'clock: if we depart now, we'll get to the town hall around fourteen and a quarter and then we can prepare your office. After that, we'll have plenty of time to introduce you to some people...your new co-workers.”

I was slightly worried that I was going to meet my new co-workers: I was scared that they might've been crazy, like Frisk warned me before...but I was also very curious. I followed Asriel as he exited the house, entered the black car that was parked in front of the house (so it was his after all) and started the engine...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was slightly longer than the usual.  
> Have you left a kudo on this work? Because if you didn't, then you should.  
> And comment as well while you're at it. It feels good to hear from you guys.  
> Really, I'm doing this work more to get reactions from you than for the satisfaction of actually doing it. =3


	5. The Magician

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth visits her new office, and has a pretty long talk with her new employer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize, this chapter isn't as long as the last one.  
> Also, I'm sorry I couldn't describe the Town Hall as it deserved. My design choices are very weird, and not I'm not always able to express with words what I imagine with my mind. That's one of the reasons I believe "Above" is a better fic, the writer is so freakin' good at describing stuff. ~~That's probably because she doesn't write chapters in three hours at evening but whatever~~

The car was much more comfortable and stylish than I originally thought: reclining leather seats, sunroof...and a nice assortments of gadgets that I had never seen all on one car. GPS, radio, Bluetooth music player...Asriel joked that he didn't know how half of his car worked, which made me laugh a bit.

“That's also why I'm asking you to drive it to get us to work in the morning.” he continued “To be honest, I never got a driving license, mostly because there are no humans that are willing to let monsters take the exam. But even if I had the opportunity, I probably wouldn't take the exam: I enjoy walking far more than driving.”

I took the opportunity and joked as well “Well, do you prefer traveling by car or with Dante's teleport?”

“I prefer everything above having to travel with Dante, even though I have to admit his methods for fast-traveling are quite efficient indeed.” he said the first part of his sentence with a disgusted expression, but I knew he was joking. About being disgusted, I mean.

“And they're eco-friendly too!” I continued on my spree of bad jokes.

He laughed as well this time, and we kept talking and kidding for the rest of the trip; Asriel was quite nice and friendly, and I was beginning to forget about his...darker side. In fact, I was beginning to forget he was a monster as well: maybe it was his personality, or the fact that he took everything so seriously and yet so nonchalantly, but I was already feeling like he was my...friend.

“We're here.” he finally said.

An immense building stood in front of me, a massive structure that for a moment I had mistaken for the house of a giant: it was mostly made with stone and wood, and it reminded me a lot about old houses from the eighteenth century. There were four windows on it's front side, each of them was almost as high as the wall itself: I noticed after some time that those weren't exactly windows, but picture windows, and they had marvelous floral patterns carefully carved in them. However, it wasn't all ancient: parables were installed on the roof, but they didn't ruin the overall design since they were small and carefully hidden near the chimneys. Speaking of the chimneys, they didn't have any smoke coming out of them, and a doubt came to my mind: what if they were actually fake?

Nevertheless, I had little time to admire the building since Asriel pressed me to get inside “I understand you want to sight-see and explore the city, but we have to take care of more important matters first. Please, follow me.”

Asriel talked very politely, and with a very formal and specific vocabulary: I was a lawyer, and talking in a formal and specific way was part of my job, but not even I spoke like that in public.

The door to enter the building was quite small compared to the edifice, but it was just as decorated as the windows, with beautiful paintings carved directly in the wood itself.

“By the way, have you liked the design so far?” Asriel asked me.

“Yes, of course! This is all magnificent, I never had the chance to enter such a majestic building...”

“You should get used to it, since this is were you'll be working from now on.”

The entrance led to a gigantic hallway, it was very long and...empty. Apart from the two sets of decorated columns and the painted windows on the walls, there really wasn't a lot to see. I could see at the other side of the corridor what looked like a building inside the building, the frontal walls were built to make it look like a castle, but it was clear it wasn't as big as a real one.

“Do we have to walk all the way through the corridor?” I asked.

“I can always call Dante if you feel tired.” he said that with a smirk, and that reminded me that a lot of jokes we made on the way to the Town Hall had as the subject that Dante. Maybe it was because of his powers, or his very odd personality, but that guy seemed to be at the center of everyone's attention.

We made our way through the building, and I noticed another small “house” some meters away from the one at the end of the hallway, on the west side of it. It was mostly painted in black, and it was slightly bigger than the other house inside the Town Hall; the design was rather simple, but what struck me the most were all the colorful wires that rose up to the ceiling; they were all different from each other, and they were all of different sizes too. From the looks of it, there must have been some sort of...complicated electronic device inside that building, or something like that.

We didn't enter that building though, as we entered the castle-like edifice right in front of us: the inside was lighted by a silver candelabrum, but apart from that the room was very poorly decorated. There were two wooden desks, parallel to each other: one of them had lots of paper atop of it, the other one was clean and unused, I guessed that was my new workstation. But that would've meant that my office...was Asriel's as well; I would've been next to my boss all day, and he could've checked on me whenever he wanted. That made me slightly nervous.

There were some shelves next to the wall, they looked like they were made of iron or a similar metal: they were all labeled, I assumed Asriel was a really methodical person.

“This is your new office. I hope it meets your expectations.” he said proudly.

“Y-Yes, it does...I don't get what you need to show me, though...this place looks very clean and tidy already!”

“If you get a little closer to those shelves other there...”

“The labeled ones?”

“Yes, those ones, you'll realize that my ordering methods are...unusual. I should instruct you on how I order things, since you'll need to follow that order as well to file your documents.”

Asriel was right when he said his filing methods were odd: the documents were archived according to their subject, in alphabetical and chronological order...all at once! There were also multiple shelves serving the same purpose, since, for example, storing all the transcripts of Asriel's calls in one shelf would've been problematic.

After explaining to me how to find everything I needed, how to record everything I did accordingly and giving me an insight on some other jobs I had to do that he forgot to tell me about during our interview, I realized it was already three o'clock.

However, Asriel didn't let go of me just yet: he forced me to undergo a...test, if you can call it that. I needed to find all the errors with a fake law program he made just for the occasion, and surprisingly (at least to me) I passed the test.

“Good job, I couldn't expect anything less from you.” Asriel congratulated me with enthusiasm...with the very controlled enthusiasm that characterized him.

“Thanks, I did my best.”

“Your best is exactly what you must give me daily. This job requires commitment, dedication, and a flexible mind. I'm sure you possess all these characteristics.”

A flexible mind...I wasn't sure to possess it, I never had the opportunity to prove myself in that sector. Having a flexible mind means being able to adapt, to be able to find alternative solutions...was someone like me, who only studied the book word by word and that never had the chance to prove herself in a court before, really up to the task?

I didn't know where all these preoccupations came from, I wasn't used to worry so much: usually I just...went with the flow, and never failed. I wasn't capable of failing, I never failed in my life and I certainly wouldn't have started now.

“Are you listening to me?” Asriel seemed preoccupied, I needed to stop pondering in the middle of a conversation.

“N-No...sorry, I was just...thinking...”

“Don't worry, I think a lot too. And don't worry, I wasn't saying anything important, just repeating the same compliments I said before.” he smiled, and something about that smile made my heart melt. Asriel always looked nice, he always spoke to me with kind words, my opinion towards him shifted very fast during that day, and always for the better.

“Now that we're done here, I think it's best we meet your new co-workers...”

“Do they work here Sunday as well?” I was a little worried that I would've had to work seven days a week, I wasn't emotionally prepared to deal with such a situation.

“No, they don't but...oh, right. I had almost forgot today's Sunday.” I thought he was joking at first, but then I realized he wasn't “Maybe it happened, because I was excited for your arrival, but I forgot to contact my other employees to meet you. You have to pardon me for that.”

“Don't worry, after all, I'll meet them tomorrow, right?”

“Of course. This is only a minor setback. Well, at least Dante should still be here. He works practically every day.”

“Does he work in this office as well?”

“No, he doesn't: he works in the office right outside this one, to our right. My two other employees work there as well, but Sunday is their day off. Again, sorry, I completely forgot.”

I decided to ask more about their jobs, since we had plenty of time “So, what does Dante do exactly?”

“He does lots of things. He's the captain of the Royal Guard, our main police department, however that's more of a title than an actual job since he unloads most of the work to Undyne, the former captain of the Guard. Still, he occasionally trains some of the recruits, especially one of them. Between him and Undyne, I don't know who's the most inflexible trainer. They create war machines, not policemen.”

“So, he's in charge of the...Royal Guard, right?”

“Yes.”

“What else does he do?”

“Well...this is some really confidential information, which I shouldn't be giving anyone...”

“O-Oh...I understand...”

“However, since I do trust you, I can tell you. As long as you promise me not to tell anyone else, literally anyone.”

Did he really trust me that much? Nevertheless, I nodded and bowed on my honor.

“Dante is my bodyguard, he's charged with defending me by all possible threats. That's what the outside world knows about him, at least: he's also my Right Arm, I always ask for his advice whenever I have trouble, and when he's not kidding or swearing in Italian he actually gives some pretty good advice. I know I can rely on him, always.”

So Dante was Italian...I knew I had heard that language before “Okay, where's the “confidential” part in all this?”

“Your two other colleagues...they're basically my Ministry of Defence. We have a network of security cameras installed all over Ebott, and all that information converges here. One of these two monsters has the job of checking all the cameras, assuring that no crimes happen in the city, while the other one...well, she's a hacker. A really good hacker, when she's not busy watching one of her “anime” films, or whatever.”

That phrase raised some more questions, and I started attacking once more “You have cameras all over Ebott?”

“That was a law I didn't approve: still, we had a referendum, and 99% of the population of Ebott agreed to the proposition. Monsters want safety right now, more than anything else. I assure you, we're not spying on anyone, we're just checking to see if there's any problems. If there are, we send the Royal Guard to intervene.”

“What about the hacker?” the word “hacker” always rang of illegality to me, and that was no exception.

“Despite the US government assuring us their full collaboration in the growth of Ebott, they're not always telling the truth to us. When this happens, we have to go deeper...and that's where she comes in.”

“Not always telling the truth...how so?”

“Do you remember the first time I appeared on the news? The day following the one monsters were revealed to the public?”

“Yes, I do.”

“There was a man that assaulted me, and tried to kill me.”

“Oh, yes, I remember that. Dante stopped that guy and then he was brought away, if I recall correctly...”

“Those guards that brought him away...they were working for the FBI. When I saw them bring that would-be assassin, I thought they were going to bring him in jail, but I was mistaken. Those two...persons, freed the guy immediately. He's still in liberty as we speak.”

“What? That's ridiculous!”

“Thanks to our hacker, we managed to discover the fact through the surveillance cameras, and we denounced the fact to the agency. From what they told me, those two men have been fired, but we have suspicions about whether or not they actually did it. That's what she's currently working on, but I don't always require this skill of her and I usually let her collaborate with the monster working at the camera network.”

“You're not telling me any names, why is that?”

“I want you to greet them personally, I don't want to ruin the surprise.”

We decided that we talked enough, and we went to see what Dante was doing. I felt like I was meddling with something greater than me, which was both scary and exciting...bodyguards, hackers, Asriel seemed to possess quite the entourage. I wondered if working with him would've made me become like Dante, or one of his other employees...that made me remember, he mentioned that both his other employees were monsters. This meant that Dante was the only human working with Asriel...at least, until that day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, last chapter only got one comment (as of right now).  
> Can we remedy that with this one, please? =3  
> Next chapter comes out thursday, so be prepared!


	6. Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth spends some time talking with Dante, and also meets one of her new co-workers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, huge announcement everyone!  
> This Sunday, 14/02/16, a new chapter will be released on Not all heroes are born good, where I'll give you news on my new top-secret project!  
> If you're interested, I would suggest you to come. It'll blow your mind. =3  
> But hey, as of right now, enjoy this chapter!

We entered the small building next to my new office, and I was surprised by the interior, everything looked...so much different than what I had seen up to that point: to counter the simple and yet efficient design of Asriel's office, Dante's one was very modern and sophisticated. It was a giant room, divided in two sections: a lower one (the one we were in) and an upper one that you accessed through some ladders in the opposite side of the room; these ladders led to an iron platform that overhung half of the room. In the lower part of the room, there were some tables that looked like they came from the future: they were oddly shaped but from the looks of it they were extremely practical; on the tables, there were a lot of laptops connected through wires to a strange machine in the corner of the room, but I didn't know what was it's purpose.

There were screens on the walls all around me, some of them weren't showing anything but the ones that were active showed squares, intersections, monuments...so Asriel wasn't lying when he talked about a network of cameras in the city! From the looks of it, it was quite extended as well!

“Dante, are you still here?” Asriel called.

“Yeah, still here.” the man jumped from the upper platform (due to my position, it was impossible to me to see what was up there) and landed a few meters away from us, barely missing one of the computers “Took you long enough to pay a visit.”

“Have you done what I asked you to?” Asriel looked like he didn't expect a positive answer.

“No. I was busy, having my eyes on _your_ kingdom. You know, the kind of stuff you never do.” he tried to be funny, but that answer made me irritated as well, I didn't know how Asriel would've took that reply.

“Well then, we've labeled all the furniture you need to transport at Elizabeth's home. Go there and do, your, job.” he was angry, but he tried to control himself. I could feel...Chara talking as well, it was like a slight tone in each of Asriel's words, a tone of anger...but they had not taken over Asriel's body like a few hours ago, that was for sure.

“Okay, fine. But I need to get Sans here to cover me while I'm doing that.” who was this “Sans” he was talking about?

The answer came a few seconds later “I'm already here, kid.” something appeared from behind Dante, something small and...with a really serious voice. From the looks of it, it was a monster: a skeleton, to be precise, wearing a blue jacket, black shorts and...were those pink slippers? That was a blasphemy to fashion! I assumed he was a male, from his voice: he was small, as I said before, three quarters Dante's size. Overall, he looked pretty cute for a skeleton...he had this huge smile (or was that a grin) that he wore all the time, even while talking.

Something raised my suspicions: since when had he been there? Was he there from before, or did he enter just now? I never saw the door open, so...maybe he could teleport like Dante could?

“Oh, here you are. Can you cover for me while I move this woman's stuff?” did he just call me “woman”? I didn't know if he was trying to be formal, but that sounded rude to my ears.

“Actually, I feel kinda “in the mood” today. I think I can do that for you, so ya don't have to move from here.”

“You're actually volunteering to do the job? What did you do to Sans, demon?” okay, that was a joke.

“Nah, I just dislike showing things around, especially to...who's she again?” he was pointing his bony finger at me.

“She's Elizabeth, my new lawyer. And your new co-worker, as well.” Asriel explained for me.

“Oh, that's...good. Nice to meet ya, kid.” the monster showed me his hand, he expected me to shake it, and I did...touching his skeletal hand felt weird, and cold, and...

A strange sound was heard, and I could feel something move between my hand and the skeleton's; that felt even more awkward than the shake of hands itself, I recalled hearing that sound from somewhere but I couldn't remember where...when the noise ended, Sans' smile became even wider “The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It's always funny.” he commented.

I had been pranked.

“Expect that from him a lot. That, a barrage of horrible, horrible puns...and being called a “kid” every five seconds.” Dante explained to me. It looked like him and the monsters were friends...at least to some degree.

The skeleton ignored the human's thoughts and kept talking with me. “If I scared you, before, then sorry. I guess I just have...a _grave_ tone of voice!” Dante didn't lie about the horrible puns, I think he was the only one in the room to find that joke funny.

Which reminded me where did I first hear that noise from before: there was a classmate of mine, in high school, that was basically the class' comedian. The whoopee cushion in the hand trick was one of his favorites, but that worked with me only once, when I first met him. I was one of his favorite targets, since I was the youngest in the class and the best student as well...a deadly combination in high school. To me.

“Anyways, tell me where do I need to go. I'll figure out the rest as I get there.” Dante gave the monster an image of my kitchen, the same one I had delivered that morning to Asriel, and in a few seconds, the skeleton disappeared as well, but he didn't leave behind the trail of black dust Dante always left behind when he blinked: my assumptions regarding his abilities were correct...I wondered how many monsters knew how to teleport.

“Since we're here, let's talk.” Dante seemed in the mood for a conversation “Do you have any questions, maybe you want a tour of the room?”

“Yeah, tell me what do you do here.”

“I do _a ton_ of things in here. I oversee Sans and Alphys, which is Sans' partner, work, I finish their work if they go home before the time, I sometimes do the night-shift watching the cameras...I also yell a lot when things go wrong, and the best part about it is that nobody understand what I said...” he said that last sentence with a small smile, but it wasn't like Frisk's or Asriel's “...Oh, and I also do whatever Asriel tells me to. And defend him from everything that can hurt him.”

That was enough of an answer to me “Since when have you been working for Asriel?”

“Since the day monsters were revealed to the public. In fact, we met while monsters were still sealed underground...” his tone of voice dropped, it became even more heavy than Sans's. Somehow, his right eye, which was usually gray like his left one, turned black as he said “Honestly, we knew each other for a long time...” then it returned like normal as he continued “But we've formally met each other the day I fell in the Underground...it was the same day monsters emerged.”

That piqued my interest “Does that mean...you collaborated in freeing the monsters?”

“No, I didn't break the barrier if that's what you're insinuating. But I do know the guy who did it.”

“Really? Who is he?”

“It's...complicated. You didn't meet him yet, and I'm unsure if he's ever going to reveal himself to you...but knowing him, he probably will.” what unsettled me the most was the usage of the verb “reveal”...which meant we were not going to meet through common ways. Everything I saw surprised me in Ebott, but what surprised me the most was everything I didn't see.

“Random question: what's this “Delta Incorporated”? It seems like a company, does it mean that Asriel possesses a company? Because he used their e-mail address to contact me...”

“I can explain that.” Asriel inserted himself in the conversation “That's just a fake company I created in order to...well, it's a bit complicated. At first, we needed a lot of materials to build our homes, but only a few companies were willing to sell us their products, so I had to create a fake company in order to deceive them. Now, I use that fake company to buy all sorts of items and furniture for all of monsterkind, but the Royal Family furnishing their people is...not what it's supposed to happen. It's an extreme measure that we had to employ in order to assure monsters a decent life. On the Surface there are shopping malls, and I expect them to arrive to Ebott as well. When they'll arrive, I will restart using Delta Incorporated for it's original purpose.”

“Isn't creating a fake company...illegal?” I was a lawyer, and that sounded very fishy to me.

“It is, in the United States. We made a pact a week after the creation of Ebott, the Royal Family and the government of USA. I would've let them oversee our every law, and let them block them if they thought they were...not correct, or hurt monsters or humans in our territory and theirs. The exchange for that is, we don't have to follow all of America's laws: we are two separate countries, each with their own rules. And in Ebott, there's no law that prevents me from creating a fake company.” Asriel seemed very proud of his explanation.

“So, is this building made with materials you bought...that way?” I was about to say illegally, but from Asriel's explanation that would've been incorrect, now that I was living in a new country I needed to learn their laws as well as I learned the United States'.

“No, this building is a little different.” Asriel confessed.

“Let's talk about it, there's no way a building like this one could've been built in two months. Not even our building team is this quick, and they build at least ten houses a day.” Dante continued.

“But then...how did you build it?” I was very curious, I didn't expect that answer.

“Let's just say it was...a miracle...” Dante smirked “I like to call it...divine intervention!” Asriel signed something to Dante, and he started talking about something else “However, our building team really is something. They managed to build the necessary to live for more than three-fourths of monsterkind in one month, and finished building the city in two more weeks. I would've never expected something like this from them...”

“Building team?” There was no way anyone could be this quick, the only reasonable explanation for such a feat was the usage of magic. At least, that was the only conclusion I arrived to.

“Yeah...they're weird. Like, there's at least a hundred of them, and they're all freaking weird...” Dante looked away, I wondered who these builders were...they seemed like monsters, but I didn't have any proof, and it didn't look like the human was going to give me any.

“I'm done.” without any warning, the skeleton returned in the room, but this time it appeared behind Asriel, making _him_ jump instead.

“Sans, I asked you to stop doing that.” from the looks of it, the skeleton did that quite often “Nah, it's amusing to see you jump every time. It always makes me smile.” if that was a joke, it was even worse than the last one.

“Oh jeez, look at the time!” Sans pointed at a watch he had on his left arm...at first I thought it was exactly like Dante's, but then I realized than instead of “bad” being written instead of the numbers it had the word “bed” written instead “I should be sleeping right now, so...goodnight.” he yawned (but he didn't open his mouth while doing so) and then he blinked away.

“I should be going to. It's getting kind of late.” and Dante disappeared as well.

“They're both right, we should get going as well. I don't want to consume all your Sunday, considering tomorrow you'll start working for me.” Asriel opened the door for me, like a gentleman, or a knight, and I returned the favor with a smile that made him blush slightly...it was hilarious since the blush propagated to his ears as well, and he seemed a bit embarrassed by that.

Asriel was driving us home, when I realized from the look in his eyes that it wasn't him, but it was Chara to drive; when they realized I was watching them, they angrily said “What, I like driving. Sometimes I drive instead of Asriel, that's normal!”

“N-No, that's not what I was insinuating...I was just, surprised by your presence, that's all...”

“You better get used to it, since I use Asriel's body regularly. This won't be the last time you hear from me.”

Everything stayed quite for a minute or two, only the noise of the engine could be heard.

“Listen...what do you think about Dante?” maybe it was to try and make conversation, maybe it was because I was really interested in their opinion, but I asked that question anyway.

Surprisingly, they answered “Even though he tries to play it cool, that guy is a danger. He can be even more evil than me, but thankfully he doesn't like to. I'm still surprised we managed to hire that guy, and I was speechless when he offered us complete submission. But he's a weapon, nothing more and nothing less. I'm pleased that we're holding that knife by the handle.”

I didn't know what to say, even though I had seen Dante truly angered at the first press conference, I had never expected him to be this bad...what did they mean when they said that he was a weapon? Sure, he could teleport where he wanted in the fraction of a second...and thinking about it, he also had that gun...but he had to possess a weakness, right?

The car stopped “We arrived.” I exited the car and I was in front of Asriel's house...of my new home. Sans said that he had successfully moved all my things...in a much simpler way, but he did. I prayed he had moved Hero as well, my cat didn't like being alone a lot; I was relieved seeing Frisk petting him when I entered the door. When Asriel entered the house (at least, Frisk greeted him as Asriel) I realized it was still six o'clock.

We spent the evening talking, then I cooked for both Asriel and Frisk, receiving praises from both: it turned out that magical food wasn't very different to cook than common food...in fact, there were no differences at all!

After dining and more silly conversations, I finally went to bed, a lot early than what I was used to: I imagined my new life in Ebott, working for Asriel Dreemurr himself...I still couldn't believe I was working for such a guy!

I thought maybe, the next day, I could've got some rest, maybe explored the city...

But I was wrong.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No strawpoll today!  
> The next two chapters are "fixed" and will be created based on my decisions only.  
> Don't worry, however: they'll be tons of fun to read anyway! =3


	7. Turnabout Salvation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth is tested to the limit in her first trial as Asriel's lawyer.  
> This time, she has to defend Alphys from being accused of theft and injuring civilians...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, instead of making three different chapters to tell the same thing, we're going to divide this chapter in three sections.  
> The first section is already available, ~~the second will be available tomorow and the third one this Monday.~~ Okay, it's getting a lot longer than I expected. Sorry, I'll have to delay the second and third sections.  
>  Good luck reading this chapter though, it's super-lenghty!  
> Also, I would like to remember you that tomorrow a special announcement will happen on Not all heroes are born good. Please, go check it out once it's available!

[Section 1: Wrongfully Accused]

 

I slept very well that night, even though I had a twelve-year old kid sleeping next to me a few meters away: I expected her to be noisy, maybe she snored while sleeping...but no, she never made any noise and from the looks of it she collapsed in a deep sleep after a few minutes.

I didn't dream that night, even though I expected to: my theory was that since the town I was now living in was so magic-filled, then...something would've happened that would've made me dream every night, since I loved dreaming more than anything else...I feel so childish for even thinking that such a logic would've been plausible.

“Good morning.” I forgot to set my reveille up, but thankfully Asriel didn't “It's time to work.” I've never been a morning person, and in that moment I hated Asriel so much...I cast him out of the room and started dressing, when I was ready and I went downstairs I found him eating fruit salad in the kitchen; thinking about it, I had just forced my new employer out of my room in a really rough way...I apologized immediately.

“It's fine, don't worry. I'm not a morning person either!” he laughed a bit, but not too loudly as to not wake up Frisk “She doesn't go to school regularly so she doesn't have to wake up early like we do.”

I approached the fridge and opened it: inside there was a bar of chocolate. I sat at the table next to Asriel and started eating my breakfast “What do you mean?” I asked.

“She has private music lessons: she's studying to become a musician and possibly a singer.”

“That's very cool! Let me guess: school isn't legal in Ebott?”

“Actually, it is. Frisk however is a special case, due to her...unusual scholastic background. Besides, not supporting her in her quest to become a star would be a sin: I hope you'll have the chance to listen to her singing as soon as possible, she really is a prodigy.”

We both finished getting prepared and exited the house: I noticed Asriel didn't bring any briefcases, but when I inquired about him he answered he didn't need them.

“Everything I need to work is already at the office. If I need anything else, I can always send Dante to take it instead: after all, he doesn't do a lot of things during the day anyway. I think there's a word in his language for that, I think it was... “Cazegiarey”?” he laughed loudly, making me giggle as well “Okay, let's leave italian words to him. I think I'm humiliating myself even more than when he does that!”  
I decided to test my luck and I offered to drive Asriel's car in his place: even though it was kind of weird at first, I eventually managed to learn how to drive it, and Asriel was so proud of me he said he would've let me drive every day.

“By the way, at least 75% of the jokes I heard up to this point are about Dante: is there a reason why he's so...popular within jokes?” I asked my employer.

“I'm not sure, he is a weird guy. With an even weirder history. He's not the only one my acquaintances make fun of, however: I'm a very valid target for gags as well.”

“And why is that?” I was surprised: how could someone possibly make fun of such a nice person?

“I believe I already told you too much. The Town Hall is just ahead, keep going forward.” he cut the conversation short: too bad, I was really interested because every time there's a joke circulating there's a reason for it.

We entered the gigantic building and we were halfway through the hallway when Dante appeared in front of us “Bad news everyone. Especially for you.” he pointed at me “I'm afraid today's not going to be a standard working day.”

“What happened?” Asriel seemed much more scared than I was.

“Sans found out something very, very bad. You two need to come in my office ASAP.” he vanished again, leaving behind his usual trail of black dust.

We ran through the last part of the hallway and entered the black house: the skeleton monster from yesterday was looking worriedly at one of the laptops on the main desk, and Dante was right behind him.

“I require an explanation: what is happening right now?” Asriel seemed even more worried than before.

“'Sup kid. See for yourself.” the skeleton monster got up from the chair to let his prince sit instead.

“Oh dear.” he covered his mouth with his paw, and asked me to come look at the screen as well: the PC's internet browser was open on a news distribution site, where a picture of what I presumed was a monster being arrested by two policemen was accosted to a wall of text. The monster looked like a lizard with glasses on, she was very small and...somewhat wide, and she was half as high as the guards blocking her.

 

**Yesterday afternoon, precisely at 2:00 pm, a jewelry store in Eastern Ebott has suffered a theft: more than half the merchandise has been stolen for a great total of...**

 

I skipped to the important part:

 

**The police arrested Alphys Shai, Royal Scientist in the monster section of Ebott, for the theft.**

“ **Although the cameras in the store have been destroyed and the registrations lost, we have a decisive witness that helped us find the culprit.” says the captain of Eastern Ebott's police force. The owner of the store and two other customers have all been knocked unconscious, and are currently in coma in Eastern Ebott's hospital. It is unclear where the culprit hid the loot before the police arrested her...**

 

Dante clapped his hands once, and declared “Siamo nella merda! Yeee!”

“Translation?” I asked.

“We're sinking deeply in shit. Which is a fancy way to say that we're fucked.”

Either Dante was the kind of guy that drops vulgar expressions every two seconds...or we really were in a nasty spot.

“Who is she?” I demanded Asriel.

“Do you remember when yesterday I told you that we had a hacker...”

“Oh shit.” this time, I couldn't resist the temptation and fully expressed myself as well. How lucky was I to start working the same day a co-worker of mine got arrested?

“When is the trial?” Asriel asked his bodyguard.

“Today, at 7:00 pm.” he answered nonchalantly.

“7:00 pm!” Asriel seemed really mad, for some reason his hands started burning: at first I was surprised, but then I remembered monsters could use magic and so I figured out that it was his doing “They can't do that! Alphys must first be judged in _our_ court! And besides, they can't set up a trial this fast!”

“Unfortunately, they can.” Dante explained “There's a new law. In case of “cases of the most importance”, trials can be set up as quickly as they want. I checked, this crime is number one on their list.”

“I was never informed of this law! When was it declared?”

“This morning. They have screwed us.”

“How is stuff like this even legal! They can't force you to do such things in so little time!” I intervened.

“Once again, sorry, but they can. Because we're monsters and we're pacifists, and they're Americans. They have the A-Bomb and democracy, and we can't do shit against that. We're forced to play by their rules, at least for now.” when he talked about the A-bomb and democracy I almost laughed, but I kept my cool since laughing in that moment would've had very bad consequences.

Asriel explained the concept better “If a war broke out between humans and monsters, be sure that we would lose. We're defenseless, we don't have the weaponry humans do. Even though we can use magic, that's useless against weapons that can kill you from such a long range. And even if it came down to a direct fight, we would still lose. That's why we have to accept America's every decision, but I won't let this go on forever: eventually, we'll be free from this nonsense.”

Asriel started leaving the room, and invited me to follow him “Right now, we have someone else to free.”

 

We arrived half an hour later at the Eastern Ebott prison to speak with the defendant, since I had automatically become her lawyer we imagined it was possible to have a session before the trial could begin.

While we were traveling, I asked Asriel why that part of the city was called “Eastern Ebott”.

“I thought you knew everything about monsters.” he seemed slightly surprised “From how you made it seem like, I imagined you had seen every interview, read all articles etcetera...”

“I informed myself a bit, but I was a bit busy when it happened so I didn't have the opportunity...”

“Well, when we founded Ebott we knew that there was a city next to ours that bore the same name, but we chose the name Ebott anyway. So now, the “human” side of Ebott is called “Eastern Ebott”, since it's located east from the mountain, and the “monster” side is called “Western Ebott”.”

“It makes sense, okay.”

When we arrived to the prison, the guards were a bit...shocked by Asriel's presence, even though he didn't have any authority in Eastern Ebott “I need to speak with Alphys Shai immediately.”

The guards didn't even hesitate or ask futile questions, they immediately let us pass without saying anything. Before we entered a gray corridor that I presumed led to the meeting room, I saw one of the guards make a call with a telephone near him. I wondered who he had called, but I had to focus on other things.

When we were introduced to the meeting room, it was exactly as I imagined: a gray room, no air conditioning, no windows, only one chandelier on the ceiling and one lamp on a table that was colored in gray. That room was the stereotypical meeting room in prisons: cold, dark...not like they needed to be comfortable or anything, they _were_ made for prisoners. There were two benches next to the table to let both the prisoner and the visitors sit, and me and Asriel sat on one of them.

After a minute, from a door right in front of us came the monster from the photo: she was wearing the same clothing she was wearing when she got photographed, a sleeveless red dress that covered her entirely and an orange jacket to protect her from the cold. Overall, she wasn't as bad as I expected her to be: since she was a monster, I expected the guards to beat her up or something like that...wow, I didn't know I was so pessimist.

“G-Good morning prince Dreemurr...” she said with a feeble voice: I noticed she stuttered, and she was also acting quite shyly, she had not sit down yet.

“Hello Alphys. Please, sit down.” Asriel invited her and she finally took a seat “Are you okay?” he asked before anything else.

“Y-Yeah, I'm fine...I'm sorry, I-I'm such a mess...you had to come all this way just for me...”

“Don't worry Alphys, I don't care. But I care about you. I want to help you.”

“And I want to help you too.” I told her.

“T-Thanks...” the monster finally looked at me, surprised: did she notice my presence just now? “Uh, your highness, who is she?”

“She's Elizabeth, my new lawyer. She's here to defend you.” Asriel explained.

“Precisely.” I added “It's a pleasure to meet you: Asriel told me a lot about you.”

“R-Really?” she seemed in distress “H-How much d-do you know? D-Did he tell you about-”

“Only about what your tasks in the Town Hall are.” he assured her.

“Oh, thank goodness...” she laughed nervously before falling silent.

“So, now that we're done introducing ourselves, I have some questions for you.”

“S-Sure...”

 

“Okay, let's start with the formalities: I need your full name, age and occupation.”

“Y-You already know half of that stuff...”

“Please, answer the question. I hate not knowing something.” in fact, I didn't want the prosecutor to say information I wasn't sure about, since everything I didn't know could've been used against me.

“Okay...I-I'm Alphys Shai, I'm twenty-five, and I work as Asriel's Royal Scientist...”

“Royal Scientist...which means?”

“Well, I...work for him. I do everything he asks me to, ranging from doing the maintenance of his electronic devices to recovering information...everything that has something to do with electronics.”

“Good, now let's start with the biggest question. I know it's not the right time to ask this, but please tell me, with all your sincerity...are you guilty or innocent?”

“I am innocent! I swear, it wasn't me! I wasn't even there when that...theft, or whatever happened!” she released all her buried anger on me, and it was fine: the most sentiment-filled confessions are the truest.

“Okay, I believe you. Now tell me, did you visit that store last Sunday?”

“Y-Yes, I did. But the store was just fine when I arrived, and no theft happened when I was there...I guess it happened after I left...”

“When did you arrive at the store?”

“Around...1:50 pm? I-I'm sorry, I can't be so sure...I had just finished eating lunch and I immediately went to that store.”

“But why did you go there?”

“W-Well...” she laughed nervously, even more than before “I-I...well, I...I was going there to...buy a gift...to my girlfriend...”

Girlfriend? “Wait, are you a male?”

“N-No! I'm a woman!” I just made the world's dumbest figure. I called a lesbian a male.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to...”

“I-It's fine, really...don't worry about it.”

I regained my composure and started asking questions again “Is there any way we can prove that you didn't commit the theft?”

“N-No...I threw away the receipt...and even if I did keep it that wouldn't have been much for an alibi...”

“Okay, you're right...the police talked about a “decisive witness”...what do you think about it?”

“T-There's no way someone could've saw me! I wasn't even there! That guy must be lying!”

My main questions were over, it was time to ponder a little bit “So, from the looks of it, the owner of the store and two customers were knocked out. While we were coming here, we found out that the culprit shocked them...like, through a taser or something like that.”

Alphys shivered a little bit, before admitting “I...there's something I should tell you about.”

“Which is?” now I was worried.

“All monsters can use magic, more or less. However, every monster has a different way of manifesting it in the physical world...there's some who shape it as fire, others as ice, etcetera etcetera...I shape it as lightning.”

“Oh, great...” I didn't know what to say, that was a huge disadvantage for us.

Asriel confirmed her thesis “However, there is a particular. Alphys suffers from an...illness. Like human genetic illnesses, you're born with it. She has trouble using her own magic, and usually she can't use it unless she's put through...extremely stressful situations. And when I say “extremely” I don't mean it slightly.”

Maybe that could've been used in our advantage “That means that even if she did plan the theft, she couldn't have used her magic as a weapon, right?”

“F-First, it wasn't me...second, yes. That's one of the reasons I'm innocent, I-I think.” even though that coincidence was tremendously unlucky, I still found a way to negate it. Maybe Asriel was right in entrusting Alphys' case to me.

“Okay, what about the cameras? The footage of the incident has been destroyed, and the cameras themselves have been destroyed too...”

“M-Maybe the culprit hacked into the surveillance network and deleted the registrations...but that's a theory. I-I mean, I'm a-” Asriel covered Alphys' mouth with his paw and whispered in her ear “Don't say that. She already knows about it. If they're recording us, I don't want them to find out about that.” I assumed he was referring to the fact that she was a hacker, so I nodded towards her and she calmed herself.

The time at our disposal was ending, and I had already asked all the questions I had to inquire, so I just instructed Alphys on how to proceed “Okay, first things first, don't ever lie. No matter how personal the question is, don't lie. Unless it's about...” I coughed and she signed me that she understood “Perfect. When the prosecutor asks you a question, look at him. Same goes for me. Don't answer until he's done talking, and then answer the question looking towards the judge.” again, another sign of approval.

“Elizabeth, I want you to remember a thing.” I turned to face Asriel “Alphys is one of my most valuable assets. She's an irreplaceable member of my squad, and we can't afford to lose her. If she's condemned...I'm sorry to say it, but I might have to rethink your job.” that phrase broke my heart: what it meant was that, in case I failed, I would've been fired. And I couldn't let that happen.

“U-understood. But...Alphys says that she's innocent, and I believe in her. I'm her lawyer, I can't do anything else apart from proving her innocence to the court.”

“You said your name was...Elizabeth?” Alphys asked me, with a kind smile “I-I'm trusting you. I know you can win.”

The guard arrived to announce that the time had run out, and Alphys returned to her cell after giving me an inciting look (which failed miserably and just made me more nervous).  
We retraced our steps through the corridor, but before we could re-enter the main hall we encountered a tall man: he had short black hair, and black eyes. He was somewhat large, but what most struck me of him was his stupid gray mustache. He was wearing a brown jacket with a tie and brown pants, and even brown shoes. I expected him to have a brown hat as well, but I guess that was too funny to be true.

“Hello.” his voice was deep and acid, he had “bad guy” written all over him “You're that monster's lawyer, right?”

“Yes.” I stepped forward, putting myself through Asriel and him “Who are you?”

“Prosecutor Zachary Campbell...” he bowed, and while bowing he kept smirking towards me, inspecting me with his little eyes “...At your service.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you.” Asriel stepped forward, and offered his hand at the man, inviting him to shake it. “Back off, you freak.” he simply answered, and Asriel moved to the side, now it was just me and this little...

“If I were you, I would give up. There's no way you're going to win this trial. We got solid evidence.” he seemed very convinced of what he said.

“And I got my client's word that it wasn't her. And I believe more in her than you believe in your “evidence”.”

“Hah! You're going to believe a monster? You disgust me.” he surely didn't feel regret in saying all that.

“Don't worry, the feeling is mutual.” I didn't let him recover from the burn, and ended the conversation “I thought you had come here to say something constructive, but it seems this isn't the case. Now, if you'll excuse me, I got a defense to prepare.”

Before I could start moving towards the exit, the man said “I need to go too. Farewell.” and he left.

“Motherfucker.” from the word they used, I assumed that I was once again with Chara “Dante!” they called.

“Yes, demon child?” once again, he appeared out of nowhere.

“Don't call me that every again. Who is that asshole?”

“Prosecutor Zachary Campbell, as he said earlier. I got a report on him right here: born in a christian family, raised in a christian college...you know, the classic guy that hates everything that isn't like him and that spams the words “Satan” and “Satanic” every three seconds.”

“And he's the prosecutor for Alphys' trial?”

“So it seems.”

“I'm going to destroy that dick.” I finally said “I will completely own that motherfucker.

“It seems as if we're on the same page, for once.” Chara said.

“Count me in as well.” Dante added “We got time until this evening. I'm going to find out all that I can about the trial and report it to you. You two devise a strategy and make sure that this son of a bitch can't say shit about Alphys.”

“You got it.” I answered.

“While you're at it, check out that store.” Chara suggested “Maybe we can find something there.”

 

“Unlikely, but I'll try. Good luck.” he disappeared.

And soon we left as well.

[Section 2: The Debate (In progress)]

 

Panic. That's the only word that could express what I was feeling in that moment. I thought that my motivations would've given me strength...that I would've been determined to win for the sake of my client...but in the end, I was scared. I tried to hide it by saying it was normal, but it didn't change the fact that I was unsure.

When you realize the fate of someone is in your hands, you start to doubt yourself. I was alone in a courtroom lobby, surrounded by people. The worst kind of loneliness.

“Hey.” a familiar voice broke the silence. When I turned around, I saw the well-known face of my colleague, Dante “Are you ready?” he asked nonchalantly.

“Of course not...I'm afraid I might do something wrong...”

“Don't worry, you'll be fine.” I couldn't recall if he ever said something like that in front of me, but I acted as if it was the first time he ever complimented me “Thank you.”

“Don't mention it. Sorry, couldn't find anything at the crime scene. But I found out something interesting.”

“Really? What is it?”

“The prosecution's “decisive witness”. Turns out that there's a bar right in front of the jewelry store, and the owner claims to have identified the culprit as he escaped from the scene.”

“Really? How could he confirm that?”

“Not sure. They likely showed him a photo of Alphys and asked him “Is this the culprit?” or something like that. And he must've said yes, since she's in jail.”

“How can I break that testimony?” I really couldn't argue with such a claim.

“How the hell would I know? You're the lawyer after all.” he was right, I had to start working with my own head “Okay, again, thank you for recovering the information. At least I know what I'm going up against.”

“I'm confident you'll win.” before he left, he added “Aprigli il culo.”

I didn't know what it meant, but I think I got the general message.

“What did you talk about?” right as Dante left, Asriel arrived “Oh, he just warned me of the prosecutor's secret weapon.”

“Do you think that could help you?”

“I don't know. But at least I know who the witness is, and I already have some questions for that guy.” I was lying. My mind was completely empty in that moment.

“Good for you.” he seemed worried, but also...confident. He trusted in me.

“Hey, do you want to spectate the trial from next to me?” I asked him “I plan on having you testify as well, so...at least you'll already be there.”

He went silent for a second, but then replied “Sure, why not? This way I'll be able to check on you from even closer.” crap, I didn't think about it. He would've been able to scold me for every mistake instantly, and I didn't like the perspective...but the damage had already been done, so there was no point in retracting it.

After a while, the bailiff came and warned me the trial was about to start, so me and Asriel headed to our spot in the courtroom. The courtroom itself was modeled by American standards, there was the judge's desk, the witness stand at it's right, the podium right in front of it. The jury's seats were on the left of the room and the audience's seats occupied two-thirds of the room. There were two small desks for the defense and the prosecution, with three chairs each.

I immediately saw that...nasty prosecutor, Zachary something, sitting at one of the tables, so I sat on the other one. Alphys arrived a few minutes later, and she sat at my right, while Asriel sat at my left. The judge had yet to come.

“S-So...do you have...like, a-an idea on the probabilities of me being found n-not guilty?” she seemed even more worried than me, which I found impossible.

“I'll say...around 50%.”

“50%? That's one in two!” that statement didn't help her.

“It all depends on how reliable the witness' testimony is. That guy can't be saying the truth, the question is: how do I reveal it to the court?”

The judge arrived a few instants later, he was wearing a black toga and the usual white wig judges always wear at trials. He didn't look too angry, and he never looked towards me, Alphys or Asriel, so maybe there was a chance this guy wasn't as rude with monsters as the prosecutor was.

After going through the protocol and presenting myself to the court, the prosecutor immediately spoke loudly “Your Honor, as you may be noting yourself, the...prince of the monsters, Asriel Dreemurr, is sitting next to the defense as I speak. May I ask why?”

“Defense?” neutral tone, maybe he was a good guy. Unlike that douchebag.

“Lord Asriel is here as a spectator and as my assistant. I require his presence to further my own thesis, and I assure you he isn't here to do anything else than that.”

“If you believe he's important to the case, then I can't saying anything.” the prosecutor looked pissed, at least I won that battle.

The prosecutor spoke first, explaining his thesis “Yesterday, a truly detestable crime happened: not only was a jewelry store robbed, but three people including the owner and sole employee of the store got knocked unconscious. All of this was done by the defendant, Alphys Shai, probably using her “magic”. We made a research on her, and discovered that her “magic” consists in electric shocks that could very well be responsible for the coma that the owner and the customers are going through right now.” noises echoed through the courtroom. I looked behind me just to be sure, towards the audience: I noticed that, among the humans, there were some monsters spectating. However, there were no monsters in the jury.

“Dammit, how did he find out?” Asriel was angry, but he only whispered his disappointment “That information was supposed to be classified, how did he find out?”

“M-Maybe they really were recording us...” Alphys figured out “Good thing you stopped me from saying... _that_.”

“Order!” the judge restored silence “Prosecutor Campbell, please continue.”

“We have a decisive testimony that I believe will open the court's eyes on what really happened yesterday at that store. A testimony so unwavering, I personally have to doubt why we're doing this trial at all.” while he was saying that, everything I was thinking in my head was “Shut up you asshole”. It was the first time in my life I was confronted by someone who really maddened me simply by staying nearby. And I hated it.

The prosecutor ended the introduction and the judge said that it was my turn to speak. I didn't have a speech ready, so I had to improvise.

“The crime the prosecutor was referring truly is despicable: however, the defense has solid evidence that it wasn't the defendant to commit it. Alphys is a wonderful person, someone like her could never do what she's accused of, and my job here is to prove it. I will demolish every single “proof” the prosecution has and demonstrate once and for all that my client is innocent!” simple and short: usually judges loved this kind of introduction.

“I hope the defense knows what they're saying. In any case, let's move on with the trial. Prosecutor Campbell, you're free to proceed.” the judge announced.

“With pleasure, Your Honor.” every word that viper said was full of venom “The prosecution calls to the witness stand the head of Eastern Ebott's police department, John Adams.” a common name for a common witness, at least one cop was always called to the witness stand. Their testimonies were boring and guaranteed, but they did a good job of recapping the investigation.

John Adams seemed like the standard police officer, bald, tall, muscular, he was wearing his uniform even in the courtroom. He stood at the witness stand as the prosecutor asked him his name, age and occupation.

“I'm John Adams, as the prosecution has stated before, I'm fifty-four and I work as the head of Eastern Ebott's police department.”

“Please mister Adams, explain to the court the summary of yesterday's tragic incident.” that “tragic” wasn't necessary, that Zachary was just trying to pry on the audience's sentiments. He probably wasn't succeeding though.

“The incident happened yesterday at approximately 2:00 pm. The most recent theory on how the crime happened is this: the culprit entered the store disguised as a customer, he hacked in the camera system and neutralized them, then he dispatched the other customers and the owner, who was working at the cash desk when the crime happened, stole the exposed jewelry and fled the scene.”

“But when he smashed the shop windows the alarm triggered.”

“Precisely. The culprit left the scene immediately, but the owner of the bar in front of the store saw the culprit enter his car, which was parked a few meters away from the store, and flee the scene. He didn't make it in time to acknowledge the number plate on the culprit's vehicle, but he was positively sure that the defendant is the culprit.”

“Thank you mister Adams, I'm done with the questions.” he just asked what he wanted to know, nothing more, nothing less. I wasn't going to do the same though.

“The defense may begin the cross-examination.” the judge announced.

“Thank you, Your Honor. Officer Adams, why did you start suspecting my client?”

“We received an anonymous call. The man at the other side of the call told us that the culprit was a monster, and informed us of where was she in that moment. We found her and photographed her, and sent the photo to the witness, who confirmed her identity.”

“When did you apprehended the defendant?”

“Approximately at 2:10 pm.”

“Was she still in her car when you apprehended her?”

“No, she was on foot.” just as I expected.

“But you just said that the culprit fled with his car right now.”

“We suspect she parked her car and started walking, meanwhile she hid the loot and-”

“Sorry to interrupt you, but what color was the culprit's car?”

“E-Excuse me?”

“What color was the culprit's car?”

“From the witness' deposition, it was black.”

“Heh, that's funny. Because...” I got up and slammed my fist on the desk “The defendant's car's color is red!”

“W-What?” the prosecutor lost his composure “Adding to that, she doesn't have any other cars except the one colored in red, which is a small two-seats. Which was parked at Regen Park...where she was walking towards!”there was no silence in the courtroom anymore, the audience was restless. “Order, Order!” the judge screamed, and after a while everything returned to the normality. But I was still smirking.

“Objection, the defendant could've used another vehicle to flee from the crime-”

“Your Honor, I would like you to note the use of the “could” in the prosecutor's sentence. There's no proof that such a vehicle exists, and while the information I've exposed is a fact, the prosecution's statement is a possibility.”

“Lawyer, please let the prosecution finish their objection.” that Zachary smirked. He talked about how the defendant _could_ have used another vehicle to flee the scene, or how they _might_ have been helped by someone else...like a partner, but in the end it was just an assumption. In the end, I still bested them to their own game. I definitely gained some points...and lost some as well. But at least I won that battle. Eventually, I would've had to win the war.

“Another question, what happened to the loot?”

“The loot's location is unknown, she didn't have it with her when we captured her, so we suspect she dropped it somewhere sometime before we apprehended her.”

“Only ten minutes have passed since the crime happened, did you check if she dropped it somewhere near the route she chose to get to where you found her?”

“The research is still in-progress, as of right now we have not found anything.”

“Of course, it has only been one day since the fact happened...”

“What's happening right now is nonsense: how can you expect the police to find out everything about the case after only one day?” I got him to say exactly what I wanted. I wanted to bring to the court's attention that this case was rushed, but I couldn't say it...however, he could.

“Thank you, Officer Adams. I don't have other questions.”

When I finally sat down, Alphys asked me how did I know that her car was red. “Dante's been pretty busy today. After lunch he told me some information I couldn't ask you when we met, and in the end since we didn't talk about it the prosecution didn't hear of it before. That's a low blow right there.” I was really proud of myself, I revealed an inconsistency _and_ a leak in the system in only one testimony. Asriel showed me how proud he was as well, and that gave me courage.

The prosecutor called his second witness, his “decisive witness”. The bar owner. He was wearing a black jacket with a white tie, blue jeans and black shoes. Pretty average. But something about him didn't convince me: he had a weird...look in his eyes. He reminded me too much about the prosecutor.

“Please, state your name, age and occupation.”

“My name's Justin Green, I'm forty-seven and I'm the owner of the “Last Goodbye” bar and cafeteria in front of the store where the crime occurred.”

“You heard what did mister Adams say about your testimony?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Do you have to add anything else?”

“Yes. I had just re-opened my bar when I noticed some commotion on the other side of the street, so I exited the building: when I understood what was happening, it was too late. The culprit entered their car and fled. But I saw them, and so I called the police; some time later they arrived and showed me a picture of a monster...the defendant, and I immediately recognized her. I'm completely sure it was her.” that was a very solid testimony, but a fake one nonetheless. I had to find a weak spot in there, or there was no-way I could've won this case.

“I believe there's no need to ask anything else: this testimony is self-explanatory.” Campbell said with a smirk “I leave the rest to the defense.” translation: good luck with that, loser. But I was better than what he thought.

“Defense, it's your turn to cross-examine the witness.”

I had to gain some time before I could start the dance “Before I start, Your Honor, I would like to get access to the photo that was shown to the witness and that helped in identifying the culprit.”

“Objection, she could've asked for it before!” did this guy have a stick up his butt all day long?

“Denied, the defense must have access to the evidence for the entirety of the trial. Prosecutor Campbell, please show the defense the picture.” another plus-one for me.

A little angered, the accuse gave me the picture: it was a black-and-white photo, the old kind. Alphys was standing right in the middle, blocked by two policemen at her right and left; she was wearing the same clothing she wore that morning, and she looked both surprised and worried.

I showed the witness the photo “Is this the picture that was shown to you?”

“Yes, it is.”

“But it's in black-and-white. May I ask why?” my question was an implicit warning to the court: that photo wasn't made with modern cameras.

“I can ask that question, if Your Honor lets me.” Campbell announced.

“Go on.” the judge gave his approval.

“The tools available to Eastern Ebott's police department are very limited and...antiquated, perhaps. This is due to complications of economic nature that brought to a cut in the budget the police can invest in updating their inventory. Frankly, it's admirable that they can manage to work under such conditions...” he tried to hide the fact with a compliment, the only word I had for someone like him was “snake”. I realized that every time that man spoke, I always thought something bad about him. I wondered why did I hate him so much, but instead of remembering of how awfully he treated me, I recalled how he treated Asriel.

“Unfortunately, what the prosecution is saying is correct.” the judge explained “The police has to work with what they're given, and we have to adapt as well.”

“But a low-quality photo might compromise the witness' testimony.” I pointed out.

“And why is that? You can clearly see the defendant there, so colors aren't necessary.” Campbell replied.

I pondered a bit on what he said, and then exclaimed “Yes, yes they matter!” I looked at the witness “If you did see the culprit when he fled the scene, then please inform me: what color was their clothing?”

“T-Their clothing...well, they were wearing...something black, I think. A jacket, maybe, and black jeans as well.”

“Excuse me, mister Green, are you really sure that the culprit is my client? Because yesterday, when she was arrested _and_ when this photo was taken, the defendant was wearing the same dress and jacket she's wearing right now!” another big exclamation, another roar from the audience, another effort of the judge to restore order. I was destroying the wall of evidence the prosecution built, and every time I succeeded I felt more confident.

“Objection, the defendant could've changed her clothing after making the theft in an attempt to build an alibi!” Campbell insinuated.

“How?” the more he used the word “could”, the more I wanted to punch him in the face.

“Should I remember you that the culprit escaped by car? She could've hid a change in the vehicle, undressed and dressed while she was driving...”

“Objection!” saying that word filled me with a weird sense of self-accomplishment “There's no way someone can drive while “undressing and dressing”!”

“The defense's objection is denied: it is possible to do it. As I saw in a video a month ago.” a weird denial, but I had to accept it “However, unless the prosecution has proof that the defendant did what you said, then I have to deny your objection as well.”

“I-I don't have the proof, Your honor: it's a likely possibility...”

“A “likely possibility” that isn't supported by facts! You're accusing the defendant of doing something without even having the evidence to support your thesis!”

“I have to side with the defense on this: I'm noting that your objections are often baseless, mister Campbell.” finally, he said something that helped me greatly! If I kept going on like that, we would've won in no time!

“Your Honor, I have some more questions to ask the witness, but before I do that, I have to ask someone else.” I tried to play my ace in the sleeve.

“Someone else?”

“Yes, I would like to call Asriel Dreemurr, prince of monsterkind and Alphys' employer, at the witness stand. He possess some information about the defendant that I'm _certain_ will show her innocence.”

“Objection, the witness she wants to call isn't relevant to the case at hand at all! She's just trying to buy herself more time!”

“Denied, if the defense believes that he has information relevant to the case, then she's free to call him to the witness stand. However, lawyer, be warned that if what the accuse is saying is true and you're just trying to buy some time, then there will be consequences.” too bad Asriel did possess information, and I was about to reveal it to the court.

“Of course, Your Honor.”

Asriel went to the witness stand, replacing mister Green

When I asked him to declare his name, age and occupation, he answered “My name is Asriel Togore Dreemurr, I'm eighty years old and I currently work both as ambassador of monsterkind and as Western Ebott's mayor.” that was the first time I learned that Asriel was eighty: he really didn't seem that old, so how could he? I needed to ask him later.

“Do you confirm that Alphys works for you?” I asked  
“She's the Royal Scientist, which means that she works for me, my father the king and my mother the queen simultaneously.” he could've avoided talking about his parents, but at least he answered straight-forwardly.

“Do you know if she has...illnesses, or anything like that?”

“Objection, I can't see how this is relevant!”

“It is relevant! Let the witness answer the question!”

“Prosecutor Campbell...”

“Okay, let's hear what _he_ has to say.” I could read the anger in his eyes.

“Yes, I possess all her files and am aware that she suffers from the equivalent of a genetic illness to humans.”

“A genetic illness? Please, be more specific.” Asriel caught the judge's attention: now everything Campbell said would've been worthless.

“We call it “Alteration of the Magical Flux”, or A.M.F. for short: those who possess it have...problems with the usage of magic, ranging from difficulties in casting spells to the impossibility of using it altogether.”

“So, Alphys can't use magic even if she wanted to...” now everyone knew that.

“Objection, the defendant _can_ use magic under certain conditions!” he fell right in my trap “What do you mean?” I asked.

“She can use magic if she's under pressure, like if she was robbing a store for example! You're trying to deceive us, lawyer!” he was losing his cool, and that only helped me.

“Mister Campbell, the witness never said anything like that before: where did you learn that information?”

“Where did I learn it isn't important: what's important is that she can use magic, that's what's important!”

“Lawyer, please explain. Prosecutor, please contain yourself. Also, I'll require a word with you later on how did you obtain that piece of information.”

“I'll let mister Dreemurr explain it for me.” I had done everything I had to, after all.

“What the accuse is saying is right: Alphys can still use magic under certain conditions and, as he said earlier, her magic is composed of small lighting bolts capable of shocking someone. However, we tested her capabilities of using magic and we discovered that she can only use it under...extreme conditions.”

“Exactly, like if she was robbing a store! The stress from the act she was about to accomplish gave her the strength to use her powers!”

“Thankfully, robbing a store doesn't provide an amount of stress remotely similar to the one required for her to use magic. We're talking about very high levels of stress. Like those caused by the sudden death of a parent, or a friend...” the audience started whispering “Precisely. We discovered that she still had some magic in her when Alphys'...friend pulled a prank on her. She faked her death, and what followed afterwards was a small electrical shock that she managed to stop before it could...have detestable consequences.” we agreed to not talk about Alphys' girlfriend: if there's something racists hate more than monsters are homosexual and lesbian monsters.

“This means that my client, even if greatly handicapped by the coincidence that her magic is similar to the weapon used to disable the victims, she couldn't possibly commit the crime she's accused-”

“Objection!” I was getting tired of him intervening, and from the looks of it he was as well “She could've used a taser, or another weapon! There was no need for her to use her magic, she simply needed a stunning weapon!”

“Prosecutor Campbell!” I tried to seize the opportunity “Once again you're not explaining a discrepancy, but a possibility: your suspicions no longer base themselves on evidence, but on pure theorizing!”

“Objection!”

“Denied.” from the looks of it, the judge had grown weary too.

“You're trying to use the lack of evidence caused by the rush of this trial against my client, and as of right now you don't have any proof that Alphys did anything you accused her of!”

“...Can I talk now? Good.” the prosecutor seemed like he regained his composure. This meant that either he really did, or he just went mad “Unfortunately for you, lawyer, I have evidence. I have Justice Green's testimony, which is more than enough to incriminate the defendant!”

“Objection: you lack a weapon, a motive and even Green's testimony is full of discrepancies. You don't have anything.”

“Both the defense and the accuse, be quiet.” the judge thundered “Both your arguments are really valid, even if the defense is right when they say that the testimony isn't completely reliable, the fact that there is a testimony is...disconcerting. I have a question for the defense: can you prove, without theories or conjectures, that the witness' testimony isn't credible? Because if you can't do that, we'll have to emit a sentence...”

This was it. This could've been the end of the process. I analyzed my possibilities: if I let the trial end, I couldn't have done anything else. What it meant was, there was still a chance my client would've been found guilty. That testimony scared me, even after everything I said.

However, if I did try to destroy that last barrier, there was a chance I would've failed. And if I failed, then everything else failed. If that testimony was authentic, then so was everything else. But if I won that last battle, I would've been guaranteed a win.

“The defense...” the words almost died in my mouth “...can prove that the witness' testimony isn't believable.” shots fired. Whispers everywhere. I looked at the prosecutor: he was shaking, but he was also smirking. Maybe he wasn't believing what I just said. That gave me courage.

“Then it's settled. There will be a pause of ten minutes, and after that we'll end the process.” the judge announced.

 

Panic. That's the only word that could express what I was feeling in that moment. I was risking everything, all for the sake of my client. I wondered if I was ready for the responsibility. While I was pondering, I heard a voice from behind me “Hi.”

At first, I thought it was Dante, but the voice was slightly different...I turned around, and instead of the black-wearing douchebag I came to like in less than one day there was a teenager, someone I never met before.

He had short brown hair (except on the front, he could've used a visit to the barber) and black eyes that reminded me a lot of Dante's gray ones. He was wearing a dark gray sweater with...weird white symbols and images painted on it and a gray jacket. He was also wearing black jeans and black shoes.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Good question. I'm not sure I have the answer for it. Just...a guy that's here to help.”

“Wow, that's very...philosophical from a teenager.”

“I'm sixteen goddamit! That's four years younger than you! And even then, that's not a big difference miss!” he lost his cool, but from how he reacted I understood it was a joke.

“Did someone say sixteen?” and there was Dante “Oh, it's you. Now I get it. Long time no see, huh?” did he know this kid?

“Not as much time as you may think. Anyway...” the kid looked towards me “We have a process to win.”

“E-Excuse me?”

“You want a solution to that testimony. And since I love winning easy, and consequentially I love seeing _you_ win easy, I'll give you a solution. Which is...” he took something from his jacket's pocket: a black book, called “Involuntary Witness”

“How's that going to help?” I was puzzled, I really didn't have the time to read an entire book, and I didn't see the point in doing so.

He handed me the book anyway “Page 212 to 214. Don't mind the characters' names, just...focus on the overall meaning.”

After reading through the pages he signed me, everything felt clearer “Okay, this is...interesting. But how do I-” the boy showed me a bunch of photos “Already got you.”

“Great. Now that he's here, he's going to steal your place.” Dante jokingly said “Anyway, better listen to him. Usually he knows what he's talking about.”

“Emphasis on “usually”. Anyway, I want you to remember something: you're Alphys' lawyer, your job isn't to find the culprit, but to assure that your client is found “not guilty”. Everything else is secondary. Got it?”

I nodded, then the bailiff arrived to warn me the trial was about to restart.

“Good luck. Also...” the boy handed me a weird card. It was all white, and it had the words “Truth or Dare” written on it “...Use this when you ask Green about the photos. This way, he won't be able to lie.”

“S-Sure...” I didn't understand what was happening, but I accepted the gift anyway. For some reason, I felt like I could trust that kid.

I asked him his name, and before he could leave he answered “Call me Hex.” and disappeared, the same way Dante always did.

While I ran towards the courtroom, I heard Dante say behind me “Oh, I see. You don't have to prove that you're right, only that they're wrong. Seems legit.”

 

[Section 3: Divine Decree]

 

 

Asriel was already in the courtroom, from the looks of it he never moved “Elizabeth, you know I trust you, but...do you really have proof that that man is lying?”

“He's not lying: when he said he saw the culprit, he really meant it...but he omitted a detail, a very important detail. It's not that detail that will make us win this case, but the fact that he didn't say the truth.”

“I-I see...isn't that a bit like cheating?” Alphys asked me confused.

“A bit, but I'm not here to play clean. I'm here to win this trial, at all costs.”

The trial resumed. I saw that prosecutor Campbell was smirking in my direction, while the break was taking place he must've instructed the witness on how to proceed...I was about to get rid of that ignorant once and for all.

“The defense asks for permission to show the witness a few photos, Your Honor.”

“Photos?” the judge informed himself.

“Yes, photos. I believe that, if the witness will react to them the way I presume, then this trial is already over.”

“Ha! A presumptuous assumption from a presumptuous lawyer: there's no way-” yadda yadda yadda, why didn't someone shut this guy up already?

I was given, in the end, permission to show the witness the photos. When I approached him, I noticed he was somewhat nervous, but the only sign of this nervousness was a small drop of sweat near his neck.

I held the card that that guy, Hex, gave me a few minutes ago in my right hand, invisible to the eyes of the court. I hoped that this would've prevented him from deceiving me. I showed the witness five photos, each showing Alphys...but with a difference.

“These photos all represent the defendant, are we clear on that?”

“Y-Yes...” more drops.

“Do these photos represent the culprit as well?” my lips were forming a small smile. I could already taste victory.

“Y-Yes...I think so...”

“See? You just ruined your own thesis, lawyer!” too bad. For them!

“Is that all you have to say?” I added “Don't you think there's something...odd, with these pictures?” he fell right in my trap, if he couldn't spot that difference then I won.

“A-A difference? T-They all look the same!” he was getting more and more nevous.

“Your Honor, unlike what the witness is thinking right now, these photos all have a very important particular that the witness should've saw by now if he was saying the truth.”  
The prosecutor was speechless, he was unsure if to continue pretending that he won or if to be concerned by what I just showed his witness; nevertheless, the judge asked me to show him the pictures.

“Oh, I see! They all have-”

“Your Honor, please don't say it out loud. Now that you know the difference, let's show the photos to the witness once more.” once again, mister Green saw all the pictures, that he insisted looked precisely the same, until I said “Of course they do. They're the same exact picture, replicated five times. However, there's a detail a normal person would've spotted by now, at least a person with a perfectly functional visual apparatus: they're all colored differently!”

“W-What?” the prosecutor looked like he was about to fall out of his chair, and the witness wasn't showing lesser signs of stress “You heard that right: they're all photoshopped, each photo is unique in that it's colored differently.” the witness understood that the milk had already been poured, and didn't try to see the photos a third time “However, since you've been able to recognize the defendant in all of the photos, you can't possibly be colorblind: in fact, you suffer from another illness, similar to colorblindness...”

I didn't even need to finish the sentence, since Green explained “I suffer from Achromatopsia...”

 

Achromatopsia: the complete lack of the perception of color in a subject, seeing only in black, white, and shades of gray. Like seeing forever in black-and-white.

The reason why he didn't realize that the photo was in black-and-white: he already saw it in black-and-white.

When he saw the defendant, he wasn't able to distinguish that she was a monster: he saw a black mass, and he could only speculate; when the police arrived and showed him the picture, he, who at the time was still shocked from the incident, didn't hesitate in reversing his speculations on the client, who got in jail simply because she was similar to the culprit.

Similar to the culprit because a few days afterwards, he was finally captured: the real one, a thirty-seven year old man, slightly fat and not very tall. He noticed the frequent comings of Alphys to the store, and orchestrated a plan to rob the shop and make her pass for the culprit, it was also discovered that he was the responsible for the anonymous call. But we're fast-forwarding too much.

The verdict was a resonant “Not Guilty”, and I swear I had never been so happy in my whole life, unlike Zachary Campbell, who was literally crying from the delusion. Seems like someone doesn't like losing.

Or hiding facts about his witness to the court. Mister Green confessed that Campbell suggested him not to talk about his case of Achromatopsia, since that would've only “brought us farther away from the truth”, as he would've put it.

Needless to say, I never saw that motherfucker in a courtroom ever again. Or around town, for that matter. When we learned the good news, we partied at Asriel's home: me, him, Frisk, Dante, Alphys and her girlfriend Undyne. Yes, the captain of the Royal Guard.

Maybe it's best if I tell you what really happened.

 

“O-Once again, thank you for everything, Elizabeth...I...I...” Alphys was once again on the verge of crying, but I comforted her the best as I could “Come on, don't worry. Everything ended well, so don't be sad...”

“I-I'm not sad, I-I'm relieved...that I'm not in jail...”

“ **I have to admit...** ” Asriel approached me, but then I realized it was Chara “ **What you did there was pretty risky: do you realize that, in case you failed, it would've been the end for us?** ”

“Yeah, I do...but it was totally worth it!” drinking two bottles of red wine sure helped my excitement. But not my politeness.

“ **Heck yeah it was!** ” and apparently, it helped Chara as well. I had never seen them so full of joy...but again, I met them the other day, so it didn't count “ **You're the fucking best!** ” they hugged me. Even if I was somewhat drunk, it still felt a bit weird.

“T-Thank you...”

While me and Chara were chatting, Alphys was crying like her parents died and Dante was dancing the macarena (don't ask me why...he never drank any of that wine) I noticed Frisk wasn't there with us.

“Do you know where the kid is?” I asked them.

“ **The twerp? Must be upstairs studying. They're usually there when-** ” before they could finish, the entrance slammed and another monster came in the house: I immediately noticed that their skin color was blue, and that they had...fins for ears? And an eyepatch?

I presumed she was a female from the red ponytail, but she was very tall and muscular for a woman.

She was wearing only a black shirt, brown jeans and white sneakers, an attire I judged way too light for the cold winter weather, but she wasn't shivering nor showing any signs of cold.

“Who's the HELL's Elizabeth?” she looked very angry, and I got scared.

“I-I'm Elizabeth...” I found the strength to say that.

“ **I'm drunk!** ” Chara added.

“I'm comic relief!” of course Dante had to say that.

The woman didn't stay near the door for too long: she ran towards me and hugged me so tightly that she almost broke my bones. Not even Asriel's...or Chara's embrace felt that weird and unsettling.

“A-Am I dead or what?” I asked.

“Thank you! Seriously, thank you! I just learned what ya did for Alphys, without ya she would've been TOAST! I honestly can't thank ya enough!”

“So...am I not dead?”

“'Course not, silly!”

Only then I dared to ask the name of this...intrusive monster “Name's Undyne, nice to meet ya! I'm Alphys' girfriend.”

“Oh, I heard about you. Alphys was going to-”

“No, d-don't tell her about it! It's a secret!” Alphys inserted herself in the conversation.

“What are you talking about?” Undyne seemed perplexed.

“I-I mean, I was going to...and then...” the lizard started crying again, at this point I didn't know what to do to calm her.

“Did she drink any liquor?” Undyne asked me.

“A glass of wine...maybe two...”

“Okay, then that's normal. She doesn't...react very well to alcoholics, you know...” she smirked wildly, showing a huge set of teeth that could've very well been made in kitchen knives “When we arrived to the Surface, we had a huge party, and Alphys drank three whole bottles of your “Whiskey”, or whatever. She believed to be “Mew Mew Kissy Cutie” for the rest of the night. And the following day too.”

“Mew Mew what?”

“It's the protagonist of an anime, manga, film, action-figures collection...that me and Alphys watch. We're...what was the word she uses? Otaka? Utako? Bah, whatever. I'm taking her home!” without effort, the blue fish monster lifted her fiancè and headed toward a beautiful red car parked outside the house...literally outside the house. On the garden.  
“See you later, dweeb!” the monster said her goodbyes.

“Weeeee!” her companion added.

 

When I woke up, I was lying on the sofa, one leg outstretched on the tiny table next to it. I stood up immediately, and saw that Asriel was in a very uncomfortable position: head to torso lying next to a wall, his legs laid on the wall itself. I never remembered ever sleeping in a position like that, and I didn't want to try anyway.  
“Worth it.” I said loudly, thinking about yesterday's party. Then I returned to sleep.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this last section isn't as long as the others, but I really thought that the work was already long enough so I had to cut it short.  
> Also, if you think how the trial ended is too far-fetched, then...deal with it. I think that too, but it was my first try and I think I did pretty well.  
> And now, STRAWPOLL! (http://strawpoll.me/6837500)  
> Remember to vote guys!


	8. Bonus - Italian Stereotypes (w/ Hex and Dante)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth gets stuck in a weird situation...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter is weird.  
> But I swear it's lots of fun!  
> If you want to ask me about more stereotypes, write the ones you're interested in in the comment section!

After that trial, my life became exactly the same as that of a standard secretary: I helped Asriel with his daily duties, correcting him whenever he made mistakes (even if he tried to do everything by himself, it was clear he still didn't understand all that happened in our world) and...well, that was it.

I wondered when a new trial would've happened...we managed to convince the US Government to let at least a week pass before starting a trial, so incidents like that in Alphys' case wouldn't have happened anymore.

I never saw that boy again, the one that gave me that weird card...until a week later, when I was walking through the gigantic hallway and heard two voices inside of Dante's office. Asriel was unsure whether to investigate or not, but in the end our curiosity made us go there anyway.

“I will never do that! That's just plain stupid!” it seemed as though Dante was yelling at someone.

“Do you really think I'm excited for this? I thought they would've chose...I don't know, Temmie, or more Alphys...this is just ridiculous!” he was talking with...I think his name was Hex. I still needed to give him back his card, but I decided to wait and see where did that conversation go.

“You only got two votes as well! Come on, you can't do this only with two votes!”

“It's only two votes because of...look, I'll need to ask them again for that thing, but right now you need to stop bitching and start acting!” what were they talking about?

Dante sighed “Whatever...you owe me.”

“Of course...not.”

I heard someone inside the room cough a little bit, and then I recognized Dante trying to fake surprise, or funniness...very badly “Oh boy, this website sure is lots of fun! It's totally the best thing I ever did...and stuff...”

“That was fucking stupid.” the boy replied.

“Fuck you.”

“Okay then, plan B.” the door suddenly opened, and a strange...wind, or something similar, pulled me and Asriel inside “You two, come by the laptop immediately.”

“W-What's happening?” I asked.

“It's...like, I lost a bet. Something like that. And now, we all have to pay.” Hex poorly explained.

“I am legitimately scared.” Asriel said, and from the looks of it he really was afraid of something.

“Here's a website, full of Italian stereotypes. You need to say them out loud, and me and Dante have to comment them.” he continued.

“Uh, why should we do that?” I inquired him.

“Because you have to. Because I say so. Because I'll give you pancakes once we're done.” I had not eaten anything that morning since both me and Asriel woke up late, so the idea of freshly baked pancakes sounded like heaven for me.

I approached the laptop the boy indicated me and prepared myself to read those sentences. Some of them were actually quite funny, I didn't understand why neither of them wanted to talk about that.

“Remember Dante, be casual. People like you more when you're sincere.” Hex jokingly added.

“I'll try, maybe it won't be that bad.” Dante replied insecure.

I started reciting the phrases “First, “Italians are all beautiful, tall, with dark hair and clear eyes, you all have a huge nose and olive-colored complexion”.”

“Wrong.” Hex declared “Maybe a lot of us have black hair, but I, for instance, have it brown. And I definitely don't have a huge nose, nor olive skin.”

“Why are you answering? Isn't Dante the Italian one?” I asked him.

“I'm Italian as well. In fact, that's the reason why we're here right now.” I never suspected that, he never appeared to have that...accent that Dante always had when talking.

“But you have to admit, a lot of us do have black hair.” Dante added.

“Yeah, that's true. But not all of us.”

“Next statement, “all Italians are sympathetic, playful and open. There's no such thing as a sad Italian”.”

The two of them looked at each other, before bursting in an uncontrolled laughter “That's a good one!” they joked.

“Really, when was the last time you saw me happy?” Dante jestingly said.

“Or me, for that matter! I'm literally the world's quietest, most asocial person ever! I don't want to say I'm sad, but...yeah, I'm definitely not the guy that would come up to you and bombard you with silly jokes!”

“O...kay...next one, “you're philanders, romantic and dull enough to cause diabetes”.”

“I didn't conquer Alice because of my sense of humor, nor because I have poet-level pickup phrases. She liked me because I was good-looking and I didn't run away when she started insulting people left and right.” who was this Alice? Maybe his girlfriend?

“But I am romantic. I flirted with almost every woman that was sexy enough to capture my attention! With time, this attitude went away...but I'm still good at being a dongiovanni!”

“S-Sure...“you're liars and ready to do everything with women in order to conquer their love”...”

Once again, the two men looked at each other and laughed, before admitting “Not by a long shot!”

“But you just said that you were a philander.” I told Hex.

“Yeah, but...that's more of an art than real passion! You do it because you can, not because you want it!”

That was a little insensitive, but I had to move on “A lot of Italians wear solely white jeans.”

“I can explain that. In the South, and only in the South, there's a lot of heat. So of course people would wear white clothing...Hex, why are you looking away?” I looked at the boy, who was blushing a little bit “I...uh, even though I'm from the North, I actually have a pair of white jeans in my wardrobe. Only one! And I almost never wear them!”

That made me chuckle a little bit “Okay, next one is, “all women are thin and beautiful until they marry or until they're twenty-five”.” really? I wanted to know their secret.

“Bullshit, the percentage of beautiful women in Italy under twenty-five is the same as in America, but it's true that once they're married nobody wants to steal them from their husbands.” Hex denied...and confirmed.

“Must be because in our country all women work like mules.” his friend added.

That was too bad, but it wasn't a huge delusion...okay, this one was funny “In Italy all men want to marry their mother, and when they're young they wear fake mustaches to look older.”

“True.” they both said “The concept of “mother” is sacred in our country.” they explained.

“That's good to hear. It's great to see you have such respect for your parents.” Asriel proudly said.

“It's the only person that works, tidies the house, washes the clothing, takes out the dog, cleans cat residue, cooks and does your homework all at the same time and without asking a compensation!” the boy added. We stayed silent a few seconds before he urged me to continue.

“All Italians are Christians and very religious, you go to the church all Saturdays and Sundays...”

“Dante, do you ever remember going to the church?” Hex asked.

“No, I almost never go to the church, what about you?”

“I don't remember the last time I went there. But don't be mistaken, there are lots of overly-religious Italians, and they're even worse than Americans.”

“You're all associated with the mafia in a way or another.” I continued.

“Wait a moment, I'll check my family tree...” a laptop appeared in the boy's hands, as he searched through some files “...No, no southerner parents. So I can't be with the mafia.”

“Woah, that's pretty racist.” Dante noticed “Against your own country too.”

“We're talking about southerners, Dante.” they stood silent, before the man spoke again “Yeah, you're right.”

“Next one, “Italy's gastronomy is the best in the world, and you force visitors to eat even more than you”.” I actually never ate Italian, was it really that good?

“They're right.” they insisted “You haven't truly eaten until you eat Italian.” Dante said.

“We got at least a hundred varieties of pasta _and_ pasta sauce, there are local recipes wherever you go, and overall a wide range of flavors to taste...” Hex added; I noticed he was getting hungry just by talking about it.

“Well, I'll need to try it out later...”

“Do not eat in an American Italian restaurant! Those are lies, they're not really Italian!” he pressed me.

“Okay, okay...“you regularly eat spaghetti at breakfast, lunch and dinner”.”

“No. But I wish I could.” Hex confessed “Even though I love all kinds of pasta, spaghetti is my favorite...especially with Gorgonzola cheese...” once again, he was getting hungry.  
“I don't get it. I almost never eat spaghetti, I prefer meat. Specifically, chicken.” Dante precised.

“Whatever, next question.” Asriel was getting a little tired, I understood why he didn't like being there: we had a few important dossiers to compile.

“Talking about spaghetti, you seem to have your...famous “spaghetti meatballs”...”

“I've been living in Italy for sixteen years, and I never saw them.” Hex chuckled “In fact, I thought those were an American invention!”

“Yeah, but we do have a sauce called “ragù” that is mostly made out of meat, with a few vegetables such as tomatoes...”

“Yeah, you're right...but meatballs on spaghetti? That's just plain nonsense!”

“Anyways, next stereotype: “Italians are addicted to coffee, and their culture revolves all around it”.”

“Yes, they're all addicted.” Hex explained “Every. Single. One. Of them. Every time they go to the restaurant, coffee. We eat at home? Coffee. Good thing I don't like it, do you realize how much money I'll save by never drinking coffee?”

“Shut up you nerd. I love coffee. And I can't live without my morning cappuccino.” Dante replied.

“I have to admit, Dante's coffee is really good.” Asriel confessed “It really wakes you up, especially on days like these...”

I decided to continue “Your language is easy, you just need to end all words with a vowel.”

“Yeah, in ninety-nine percent of the cases it's like that. But be sure to use the right vowel, or you'll say something completely different from what you intended!” the boy assured.

“You should also add that learning Italian is useless.” Dante replied.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“You know how everywhere you go in the States, people talk English a little different? Different accents, maybe a few different words...”

“Sort of, yeah, I once had a companion in middle school that came from Australia: it was a bit difficult to understand him, but in the end I adapted to him.” I explained

“It doesn't work like that in Italy: there's a dialect everywhere you go, every single part of that country has it's own language. For example, I come from Brescia, which is...like, 106 kilometers, or around 159 miles away from Milan. And both cities have their own dialect: Milanese in Milan, Bresciano in Brescia. And they're almost completely different!”

“Oh, don't forget to mention the difference between dialects in the North and dialects in the South. Seriously, Italian is almost never used in Italy. Apart in school, and at work I suppose.” Dante ended.

“That's...that's it! We're done!” I happily announced.

“Finally, I was getting tired of hearing you two...” Asriel sighed.

“I was too. After a while, you get tired of talking about your country...or listening about the one of someone else. It's fun at first, but then it gets repetitive...” Hex added. He really seemed tired.

“Well then, we need to go work. Elizabeth?” Asriel called me, but I decided to give the boy his card back before going.

“Keep it.” he answered “Vanilla Phoenix Wright was okay, but it's only when they added superpowers that those nerds started making the big money!” I didn't understand what he meant...or the reason for that weird figure of speech at the end, but I thanked him anyway. A card that guarantees me a honest confession...that would've been useful, if not essential in the future trials.

“Oh, I almost forgot. I had to give you some pancakes.” suddenly, a plate full of pancakes appeared in his hands, and once more I got intrigued by the boy's abilities. Could all Italians do that kind of stuff? We just finished talking about stereotypes, and here I was, inventing new ones!

After handing me the plate of pancakes, he started heading towards the other side of the room with Dante; I heard the man ask him “Simple question: where did you take those pancakes?”

“Oh, you know...I don't know how to bake them, so I just...“borrowed” them from a friend.”

“And does this friend know that you took their pancakes?”

A mechanical voice spoke from the boy's jacket “ **New message on Tumblr.** ”

“I think they do.” he handed Dante his phone “You deal with it! So long, sucker!” and he disappeared.

“Where the hell did you go? I'm not answering this!” he threw the phone on the ground, made a gun appear out of nowhere and started shooting at the phone repeatedly.

I fled from that hellish room as fast as I could, munching on those pancakes as if I had a limited amount of time to do that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well let's do it again.  
> http://strawpoll.me/6837500  
> And please, don't vote that bonus chapter. We already did it! =3
> 
> Also, I started talking with SamIamNot13 about the possibility of creating...like, a crossover work.  
> It's too early to say anything, but at least now you know. =3


	9. The Emperors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth and Asriel get invited to his parents' house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to know who voted the Bonus Chapter after it was released.  
> If you're reading this right now, I want to inform you: not only you wasted your vote, but you made it harder for me to decide what to do next.  
> You're a troll, my friend. I respect you for that. But don't do it ever again.  
> Anyways, have a good reading!

I was getting used to my new daily routine, every day I woke up, dressed, had my breakfast (I was getting more and more used to magic food, but most magic food was also vegetarian...and I missed meat so much...) and went to work. I started working roughly at 8:00 am and finished at 6:00 pm.

After that, I had a few hours to...explore the city, or relax at home. Asriel accompanied me whenever I went to have lunch or dinner, and I never refused his company: we always got along well, and we talked about lots of things. Work was usually the main topic, but we also talked about books, films, whatever caught our attention that day.

I was surprised by how...acculturated he was. He knew a lot of things I didn't know, and whenever he found out something new he was eager to learn more about it. So not only was he a nice guy to listen to, but also someone who could listen to you for hours.

We never worked on Sundays, at least I didn't: if Asriel felt like he needed to do something, he always ran to his office and did it; after washing his thoughts away, he usually returned home and...read some books! After all, he needed to have some good arguments ready for the next time we went to have lunch or dinner!

Frisk always studied at home, she had private lessons with very good music teachers, which thankfully didn't mind the fact that they were in monster territory...but the video-cameras in our house were always pointed at them. After all, they were in the prince of monsterkind's house, and Asriel was diffident of however he couldn't control...maybe that's why he trusted me so much: he was always around me. Spying me. But I didn't mind, after all, I didn't have anything to hide.

Instead, I preferred to spend my day-off exploring the city, I never had so much fun running through a town in my life: Washington was so boring, while Ebott was...so colorful and full of life! Everywhere I went, there were monsters: short, tall, slim, wide, they were of all shapes and sizes! And the best part is, everyone greeted me happily, even if I was a complete stranger to them, and I always replied politely. Everyone wanted to be my friend...that never happened before. In fact, the first times a monster greeted me so warmly I was so embarrassed I couldn't even reply, but after a while I got the hang of it.

Sunday was also the only day I could sleep until late, and that was a practice I missed from my time in Washington...except one Sunday, when Asriel awakened me roughly around 8:00 am “Elizabeth, would you mind waking up?” he spoke kind words, but his methods for waking me up were somewhat rough.

“Yaaaawwnn...five more minutes, please...”

“Elizabeth...oh, well, I tried.” he went silent for a minute, before a much louder and intrusive voice forced me to wake up “ **Wake up immediately! Or else...** ” I went from being half-asleep to completely awake in the fraction of a second.

“W-What's happening? Did something happen?” I asked, alarmed.

“ **Err...sort of. Come downstairs, and wear something formal, please.** ” before they exited the room, they checked if Frisk was still asleep: thankfully their rage didn't disturb the sleep of that lovely angel. After taking a shower and wearing my formal white attire, I ran downstairs as quietly as I could to find Asriel (Chara?) sitting at the kitchen table in front of a laptop.

“Here, look at this e-mail.” it was Asriel, thankfully, so I didn't have to be cautious around him.

The e-mail was from a certain “toriel_dreemurr@gmail.com”...wait, wasn't Asriel's surname Dreemurr?

 

**Greetings, my child.**

**We have organized a magnificent lunch to thank you for your efforts as the mayor of Ebott, it'll be a normal family repast so it'll be only us three...but you can invite your new lawyer as well, after all, the more the merrier!**

**We'll be waiting for you, see you soon!**

**-Toriel and Asgore**

 

“What does it mean?” I asked, uncertain.

“It means that...my parents invited me for lunch. And you as well, apparently.” his voice had a mixture of excitement and concern.

“I-I don't have to come, if you don't want me to! After all, they said it's supposed to be a family lunch, so...”

“They invited you, but not Frisk. For a family lunch.” Asriel looked at me diagonally “This means that they're not doing this for me, but for _you_.” now I was worried as well “You should prepare yourself.”

“For what?”

“For...anything.” Asriel looked away “Last time they invited me to do something, it turned out to be something completely different. It's true, I did enjoy it, but...I'm still suspicious.” he left the room, advising me to finish arranging myself.

I was already dressed, so I finished doing my morning chores and decided that I was done. I pondered on whether or not to wear make-up, but I didn't like it and every time I tried to wear it I always made mistakes...in the end, all of my beauty products were like part of the drawer, a decoration...

 

“Are you done preparing?” Asriel inquired.

“Yes, I am.” I answered.

“Good, then let's go.” it was only 12:00 am, but Asriel insisted in arriving there in advance “This way, you'll have some time to talk with my parents...which I believe is the only reason they invited you. Besides, arriving in advance is always very polite.”

Since we weren't going to our usual destination, I let Asriel drive, even if he didn't like it. In the absence of a GPS, he was the only one that could drive us safely to his parents house...I met a prince a week before, and now I was going to meet a king and a queen. I felt like I was living inside a fairy tale...or a monster tale, in this case.

“I'll give you some advice on what to do while talking with my parents.” Asriel commenced “First, my mother likes to use...terrible, terrible jokes. Even worse than Dante's and Frisk's. So, no matter what she says, laugh. Even if the joke is so horrible it makes you puke, laugh.”

“Wait, so...is she like Sans?” while I was on break at work, I always found Sans out of the office. He spent the time telling me terrible puns, and I don't remember ever laughing at them. Instead of being upset by it, he set a goal for himself: find a way to make me laugh. So now, we always went on break at the same time, it was...like a custom, or a ritual. Asriel never asked about it.

“Even worse.” two words were necessary to make me gulp “Also, my father is very...invasive. Especially with hugs. I would recommend you to hold your breath and to not resist. But since you're hugging a king, maybe you shouldn't return it as roughly. But knowing Asgore...maybe you should.”

“So, do I hug him back or not?”

After a few seconds of silence, he answered “Do not. Only to be sure.”

We arrived at the mansion: it was very big and white, it looked similar to the other houses in the area but it was decorated a bit differently: the chimney reminded me of a medieval castle's tower, there was some smoke coming out of it. Apart from that, everything was pretty normal...except the garden: it was as colorful as Asriel's, maybe even more. In that garden there were flowers of all kinds, planted next to each other to form an harmony of beautiful tonalities...whoever made that masterpiece must've been a great gardener, even better than Asriel!

Asriel knocked on the door, but then he realized it was already open.

We entered the house: it wasn't very different from Asriel's, but in the living room, instead of a sofa, there were two armchairs next to a fireplace. Even the colors were slightly different, the interior was painted of a brownish color, and the floor was made out of wood.

Two monsters were sitting on the armchairs, they looked a lot like Asriel, but...very different.

One of them looked almost precisely as him, but from her...breast I understood she was a woman: she looked slightly old, with a few wrinkles on her face, but even though she reminded me of my grandmother she looked surprisingly young. She had a perennial huge smile on her face and everything, from the way she smiled to the kind words she used later, expressed politeness and care.

The other one was definitely a man, at least twice as big as the woman: he was very wide, even more than Alphys, and unlike Asriel and the other monster he had not only blonde hair but also a blonde beard. And while the female go- I mean, monster had small, almost non-existent horns, his were impossible not to notice.

While the woman was wearing a simple purple tunic with a symbol painted on it, which I learned a few days before was the “Delta Rune”, the symbol of monsterkind, the other one was wearing brown shorts that exposed his...surprisingly muscular legs...and a pink t-shirt with the word “Kawaii” written on it. He seemed...pretty okay wearing a pink t-shirt.

“Oh, you're already here.” the woman noticed. She had a suave voice, the kind of voice you would want to listen to forever; only then I noticed she had black eyes, unlike Asriel's which were red.

“Good morning mom, good morning dad.” Asriel greeted them, much more informally than I expected. The female monster got up from the armchair and walked up to Asriel, before hugging him tightly. If she hugged like that, then the other one...

“You must be Asriel's lawyer, Elizabeth, right?” I didn't see him coming. I barely managed to inhale a moderate amount of air before getting squeezed by his huge arms...the hug lasted at least five seconds, and I could feel the monster's fur under his t-shirt. I was glad it finally ended, but I didn't express my embarrassment.

“Elizabeth, these are Toriel and Asgore Dreemurr, queen and king of the Underground respectively. Mom, dad, she's Elizabeth, my new lawyer and assistant.” Asriel introduced us.

“It's an honor to meet you.” I said.

“The pleasure is ours, dear.” the queen replied “We should be honored, for having in our humble home the woman who successfully defended Alphys. What you did was really amazing, you should be proud of it.”

I giggled, then thanked the mistress.

“Tori, would you mind preparing the meal?”

“Of course not, Asgore. Elizabeth, would you like to help me?” she politely asked.

“Well...” I looked at Asriel, who practically had the words “Say yes” written on his forehead “...Yeah, of course.”

“Splendid, after all...a lawyer turned cook is a...sue chef!” the pun was horrible, but I remembered Asriel's warning and laughed vigorously; Asriel and Asgore were laughing as well, but you could see from a mile away they were faking it. Toriel was too busy laughing to see our mischief.

 

The main dish was a salad made out of lettuce, celery, tomatoes, onions and, surprisingly, hard-boiled eggs. I remembered hearing Asriel say that most magic food is a counterpart of vegetables, fruits etcetera.

“Most of it, yes. But after arriving here on the Surface, we started using human ingredients as the base for new magic food. It has the same flavor as normal food, but...well, you don't have to expel it. Our recipe books are now twice the size, and bigger books are incoming!” she explained.

“Wow, that's good! Cooking and eating are arts, in my opinion.” I confirmed.

“I couldn't agree more with you! When I'm not attending to royal business, I'm at home, writing my new cookbook.”

“You write cookbooks?”

“Yes, I do. I'm one of the Underground's best chefs after all.”

Aside from the salad, there were also boiled potatoes and a cinnamon-butterscotch pie “This is my favorite dish.” she confessed “I'm sorry it's from yesterday, it's best to eat it freshly-baked...”

“Don't worry, it still looks amazing! I can't wait to eat that!”

Her smile got even wider, from the looks of it I was handling the situation very well. I didn't know what Asriel and the king were doing in the living room, but as soon as Toriel announced we were ready they arrived in the kitchen; I could see their mouth watering from the other side of the room.

 

I enjoyed having lunch with the king and queen: they managed to make me laugh even while talking about work. King Asgore asked me about what did I do as Asriel's lawyer, then he asked me if I was enjoying Ebott.

“Of course: it's a magnificent city, living here still feels like a dream to me!”

“I'm glad you like it: this city is the symbol of monsterkind, the rampart of our civilization. This town is the proof that monsters and humans can live together under the same Sun...” The king proudly announced. I saw very little humans when I walked around the streets of Ebott, they didn't greet me as warmly as the other monsters did but they were still nice. Everyone in that city was nice, in their own way.

“We, as the king and queen, take care of the monsters that still live Underground, under Mount Ebott...” the queen explained “Unfortunately, the space is limited: even though new houses are built every day, there's not enough room for everyone. So, someone must still live Underground...and we're here to guide them until they manage to arrive to the Surface.”

“After they get here, the weigh falls upon us.” Asriel told me “It's my job to keep my people safe...and yours to save them whenever I fail.” He looked sad, but he tried to hide it.

“You didn't “fail” with Alphys: she just...found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens, it's not your fault.” I tried to comfort him.

“I know, but...I still feel like I should've done something...”

“You did do something! The other day we financed the Eastern Ebott police department: now they have enough money to get better tools, so it'll be easier to defend monsters whenever they're judged.” I told him.

“You did it? That's very noble of you, Asriel.” his father held his arm as to show his support, and that sure helped Asriel's morale “Thank you, dad. You too, Elizabeth.”

I shrugged away his appreciation “I didn't do anything...”

“You did. By accepting to come here on Ebott. By accepting of working for me. I can never thank you enough for what you did and are still doing.”

I blushed, and looked away. I didn't enjoy getting compliments, those only made my ego grow and I wasn't a fan of that.

“Well, look at the time.” Toriel pointed at a clock on the wall next to her: it signed 2:30 pm “I think we stole enough time from you. You better get going, I know how busy you are in these days.”

“Besides...” Asgore added “...The weather today is really nice, you should bring Frisk to the park and have some fun if you don't have anything better to do.”

“No, I don't.” Asriel answered “Come on, Elizabeth. It's still today.” I wasn't sure what did that mean, but I understood we needed to go away.

I would've missed that butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I hoped that cookbook would've came out soon, because I was going to buy it ASAP.

 

“So, do you think I passed their “test”?” I asked Chara on the way home. Asriel wasn't feeling like driving, so he let them drive his car instead.

“ **How should I know?** ”

“Come on!”

“ **Okay, fine: yes, I think you did. Asgore was asking Asriel about you before, and he answered that you were a nice and funny person and that he's “proud” of having you as his assistant.** ”

“W-Wow...thank you, Asriel! And you too, Chara.”

“ **S-Shut up! I'm not happy you're here, I still hate you!** ”

“Yeah, sure...why do you call your parents with their full names?” I inquired.

“ **Well, that's because...** ” they looked away “ **I...I did some things. Things that hurt them a lot. Even if they're technically my parents as well, I don't want to consider myself their son.** ”

“Oh, I...I understand...still, they seem like nice persons, if they love you they must have forgiven you by now...” I covered my mouth, but the words had already exited my mouth.

“The problem is, they did. That makes it even harder for me.” I sighed of relief, he didn't react like I was scared he would.

Something vibrated inside their pocket, and since Chara was busy driving they ordered me to see what was happening with their phone.

  
**New message from “Mom”**

**I hope you liked today's meal...I know I still have** _**mush-room** _ **for improvement! LoL (which means “lot of laughs” by the way).**

**-Mom**

 

“ **What does it say?** ” they asked me.

“I'm not saying this out loud.” I answered, and put his phone back in his pocket.

“ **Horrible pun?** ”

“Horrible pun.”

“ **I need to ask Alphys to create a filter for those...** ”

We laughed (at least I did) and chatted all the way home and, in the afternoon, we brought Frisk to the park. It was a lovely day. Perfect weather for a picnic.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...more votes, anyone?  
> http://strawpoll.me/6837500  
> Please, I need to decide what to do next.
> 
> Also...something's coming. Something big, something awesome, something demented.  
> And no, it's not my new fic. It's something you would never expect...


	10. The Wheel of Fortune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth and Asriel visit Ebott's newest districts, where Temmie's busy building the new homes for the monsters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incredibly, this is chapter 10 and Temmie's tarot card number is 10...what a coincidence!  
> Also, WHO'S VOTING CHAPTERS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN RELEASED?  
> YOU'RE WASTING YOUR VOTES!  
> *cough cough* Anyway, enjoy your reading!

Asriel wasn't simply the ambassador of monsters to humans: he was also the mayor of Ebott, and sometimes he had to attend to business related to the job. So, not all days were spent in the office, there were a few instances where we moved to a certain place to...do whatever we had to do.  
I was always there for Asriel, helping him out whenever I could, but sometimes I found myself very out of place: monsters were nice and friendly, but most of them were...weird, strange, or flat-out bizarre.

“Elizabeth, today we have to go somewhere.” Asriel told me.

“Where, exactly? I don't recall seeing any appointments on the weekly schedule...” I noticed.

“It's not an appointment, it's...more of a visit, if I can say so.”

“A...visit? You don't seem like the kind of guy that would stop working to visit a friend.” I pointed out.

He chuckled, and answered “Do you remember ever telling you that this building was temporary?”

“N-No...I thought this was supposed to be the Town Hall forever...”

“Unfortunately, no. This building is way too big, and we need a new location. So, I had our builders start to build a new Town Hall, of...moderate proportions.” he explained.

I was slightly disappointed, but at least it would've meant that I would've never had to walk down that ridiculously long hallway “What will happen to this building, then?”

“I plan to turn it into a shopping center. It's in the middle of Ebott and, given it's huge size, I expect it to become our only, and most successful, mall ever.” that was interesting to know. Sure, going shopping in the stores next to our house was wonderful, but I missed the days of unrestrained spending at the unending research of a new fancy dress.

 

Ebott was constantly growing, new houses and public works were built every day; however, I never went to the more “new” side of the city, and with new I mean...in-construction. I noticed there were a lot of finished houses, uninhabited.

“This area is always full of construction sites, so there's a lot of noise. I decided that all inhabited houses must be at least a neighborhood away from the most recent construction sites, in order to...well, preserve the ears of my citizens, of course.” just then I noticed that noise: pneumatic drills, bulldozers, cranes...this place was really noisy!

“We have a lot of builders, and they're very efficient too. Since they're so organized, I have them work on multiple projects at once. I know it sounds hard, but...they always manage to fulfill my expectations, and even surpass them. They're weird, but...I have to admit, without them, this city wouldn't even exist.”

We parked next to a construction site slightly bigger than the others: the building in the middle of the yard wasn't nearly half done, the first floor's walls had already been built but the second floor wasn't even slightly complete.  
From the looks of it, we arrived in the middle of snack break, as a handful of white critters were happily munching over some snacks next to each other. They looked like cats, but they were wearing clothing so I assumed they were monsters...their fur was white, their ears looked like a cat's...wait, did they have two sets of ears? It looked like it, but maybe those were white headphones...I couldn't tell, so I just stopped pondering about it. Their face looked very childish, but...they all looked practically the same.

Except one of them, who was munching something while writing some notes on a nearby table: as soon as it (I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl) saw Asriel, it jumped off it's chair and ran to him “Hoi, gote-bro!” she referred to him. I wasn't sure if I was more surprised by her weird dialect...or by the fact she just called Asriel “Goat-bro”.

“Please, don't call me that near her...” he answered, embarrassed “...anyway, hi, Temmie.”

“Hoi! Tem haz ben waitin for ya tu com.” she replied “Whu is that gurl?” she seemed to be talking with me.

“Hi, I'm Elizabeth!” I introduced myself.

“Hoi, I'm Temmie!” all the other critters replied, with one voice. It was cute, but also...very unsettling.

“Anyways...I'm Asriel's lawyer. Nice to meet you.” I politely finished.

“Lauyar? Yaya, Tem herd on the newz. Tem very proudz of lauyar.” she seemed to know me quite well.

“Temmie, how long will it be before the Town Hall will be completed?” Asriel asked.

“Tem du not kno...tu weeks at list.” she responded, nonchalantly.

“Two weeks?” Asriel seemed...slightly angry, to say the least “Why are you not going faster? Usually you complete buildings in...three, four hours: why are you delaying it so much?”

“Tem giv priority tu hous.” she answered “Gote-bro alredy haz a Twon Holl, so gote-bro can weit.”

“I see...it makes sense.” Asriel observed.

“But Tem iz having issu with buildz as well...” she seemed...almost concerned “Evry tiem Tem go to slip, all unfinishd buildz are distroyd.”

“What? What do you mean?” I inquired.

She was about to answer, when I noticed something coming from our right...I recognized it from the black color and the spherical appearance. Asriel tried to protect me from it, but I knew it: I was doomed. I closed my eyes, as to avoid looking from the massive wrecking ball launched at full-force against me.

Except...I was never hit.

When I re-opened my eyes, Temmie was standing mid-air, blocking the wrecking ball with one hand...or paw. For an instant, I believed time had stopped...until I saw Temmie put her feet on the sphere, and walk up to the other Temmie who was dangling on top of the destruction tool “What are you doing, Temmie?” I was surprised she was talking normal English now, and the tone of her voice was very...alarming.

The critter atop the sphere was very preoccupied: their face was...shrinking? It definitely was shrinking, getting smaller and smaller the more seconds passed.

“I told you not to play with the wrecking ball, didn't I?”

“Y-Yaya...”

“Then what are you doing up here?”

Silence. Without a word, the wordless critter jumped off the steel contraption and ran to the unfinished building, working as fast as she could. All of the other monsters finished eating and started working too: they seemed capable of carrying very heavy things all by themselves, and also occasionally use the big machines without effort.

“I stil dunno how tu stopp Tem...” Temmie sighed “Shi alwayz plays wit the rektin ballz.” the only thought I had in my mind in that moment was Miley Cyrus singing “Wrecking Ball” while dancing atop her sphere. Despite hating her music, I had to admit: that was a fun image of her.

 

In the next quarter of hour, Temmie proceeded to explain to Asriel all of the work her team of Temmies (I couldn't believe it at first, but they seemed to be not only identical, but to also have the same name and personality, with some exceptions) had done in the past weeks: four entire neighborhoods, plus two schools and an hospital.

“I let Temmie plan the city's construction, she's way better than me at doing it. Overall, she never let me down, she really has a strategic and calculative mind.” the prince praised her.

The monster blushed at the compliment, and shrugged it away. From what I understood of her next phrase, she felt like she didn't deserve it...but she was happy to help as she could.

In the end, we talked about the problem she had.

“At nite, at list tu buildz are crashd. We dun't kno how tu stop it.” she explained, worried.

“I never heard about this...” Asriel admitted.

“Yaya, Tem wanted tu tel u but waz tu bisy workin...”

“Is something wrong with the tools?” I asked.  
“Noi, tulz are fin. Noi Tem come workz at nite, so...mayb it's sumeone else...”

“You mean, like a saboteur?” Asriel speculated.

“Yaya, but Tem iz sliping so Tem cannut wach...”

“I'll ask Undyne and the Royal Guard to patrol this area at night. I don't want similar incidents to happen...if someone really is sabotaging your work, it needs to be stopped immediately.”

Temmie expressed her gratitude in the most ridiculous way possible, and she promised to keep doing her best.

 

It was only 3:00 pm, so we had to return to the Town Hall to finish our practices. While driving, Asriel kept telling me more about those monsters “Incredibly, not even I know a lot about them. They're just...there.”

“How so?”

“They're all female and, from the looks of it, all of the same age. I don't know what age they are though. Or why they talk like that, for that matter.”

“But, if they're all female, how do they...you know, reproduce?” I asked, a bit embarrassed.

“I don't have the answer for that question...” he looked away, slightly blushing “...Nor do I want to find it.”

There was silence for the next few seconds, until I dared to ask “So, goat-bro, huh?”

“Please, don't call me with that nickname...it's been two months and it still sounds as stupid as the first time I heard it.” he didn't like that nickname, which was a bit funny.

“I find it...quite fitting.” I giggled.  
“Listen, I looked on the internet what a “goat” is a long time ago, and I can't find myself in the description! I mean, look at me: do I look like a “goat”, perhaps?”

Since the semaphore was red, I looked at my employer: the floppy ears, the horns, even his fur...yeah, he totally looked like a goat.  
“Yes, you do.” I admitted “You're also sorta vegetarian. I mean, you're very similar.”

“S-Shut up...” he shouted, making me laugh. I noticed the traffic light turned green so I proceeded down the road.

“Who calls you like that?” I asked.

“Frisk was the one to start the trend, Dante and Sans occasionally call me that...Temmie as well.”

I remembered just then, Temmie was the critter who jumped on stage at the first press-conference two months before. When I told Asriel about it, he replied “She's...very random. At least her, the Temmie who's in charge. She does everything she wants, and from the looks of it she doesn't feel regret nor embarrassment for her actions.”

“You seem to know her quite well.” I noticed.

“Of course I do...I remember the day, the day we were freed...the day Frisk and Dante fell in the Underground, and we traveled all the way through it to bring them back to the light...in the end, we were all freed from the mountain, thanks to those two. Temmie was the comic relief in all that.” he said with a chuckle “At first, I didn't want to bring her with us, but after a while I had to admit: she was quite useful.”

“You...never told me about that tale...you never told me how you were freed from the Underground.” that was top-secret: it was a topic discussed all over the world, and the monsters kept their lips shut about it. But, since I was Asriel's lawyer, maybe I would've had that answer.

“Perhaps another day, Elizabeth. We've arrived, after all.” he was right, the Town Hall was right in front of us, and I was a little pissed that he wouldn't tell me about that story.

But hey, from the looks of it I would've been working there for a long period of time. Eventually, I would've known everything I needed to know about.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we please not vote chapters that have already been written, please?  
> http://strawpoll.me/6837500  
> Also, sorry this chapter was a bit short, I can't make everything as long as it should be.  
> We just need to do two more chapters...before something will occur. Something...spoilery.


	11. Strength and The Hermit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth takes her cat to the vet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...apologies for the lack of uploads this week.  
> I had to upload this chapter this Tuesday, but I was lazy as shit.  
> Then Wednesday came and I remembered I had to go to Ravenna (google it, you unaccultured americans!) this Thursday.  
> Since I promised my beta-readers I would've gave them the preview for my new fic this Thurday, I had to work all Wednesday to give them the preview that day.  
> I also had to merge together Alphys and Undyne's chapters because...well, something will happen this Saturday.
> 
> Oh, and my new fic will come out this Sunday. I expect you to come and see it for yourselves! =3

Sometimes, incidents occur. Sometimes, incidents occur to others. Usually, we're ready to help each other when we're in need...except when the one you need to help is a cat that eats way too much.

Unfortunately, Hero's belly had become too much big for me to ignore, and Frisk suggested me to take him to the vet, a proposition I had difficulties to accept: despite loving Hero with all of my heart, he was a huge douche and he always acted like he was the owner of the place, even in Asriel's house!

Nevertheless, I didn't want to have him weigh on my conscience and took an appointment with Ebott's vet; I didn't even bother checking out who was I about to deal with, I just got on their web page and signed up as fast as I could.

I was now driving towards the vet's office: Asriel lent me his car since he had gone shopping on foot. Hero was meowing endlessly in a comfortable cage next to me: he always hated when I used the car to bring him somewhere, but I was in a hurry so I didn't mind.

The house looked almost like the other houses in the area, except it was colored in yellow instead of yellowish white and had a third floor. Not even Asriel's home had a third floor, that unsettled me...I came to learn that, in Ebott, the house tells a lot about a monster's identity and social status. At first I thought it was a bit racist, but then I realized the utility of such an uncommon distinction: you could tell, without even entering the house, who inhabited it.

I knocked at the door, and a stuttering female voice came from inside “W-Wait, I'm coming!”

Just one phrase, one simple phrase was sufficient to let me know who did I sign an appointment with: as the door opened, I immediately spotted the yellow, scaly skin, the white science coat and the nerdy glasses of Asriel's irregular employee, Alphys.

“E-Elizabeth? Y-You're the one who signed up?” she seemed a bit in distress.

“You're the veterinary?” I asked.

“W-Well, yeah...I-I'm the Royal Scientist, b-but...” she got out of the way and signed me to enter the house “P-Please, come in.”

The inside of the house was pretty...weird: the walls were like painted with graffiti and all the pieces of furniture looked like they just came out of one of those Japanese comic shows...anime, or whatever. Never got into that stuff, I was too busy studying and...having a life, I suppose. There were even tons of posters about girls in skimpy dresses and...cat ears? This was weird.

Alphys giggled, a bit stressed “I know...i-it's weird...”

“D-Don't worry...I'm no one to judge...” I think Alphys' stuttering was starting to affect me as well.

“W-Well...I'll just...take your cat and do my check-up...” she took Hero's cage from my hand and ran up to the second floor. Without any better ideas, I wandered in the house, which looked weirder and weirder the more I explored it: when I arrived in the kitchen, I was surprised to find the fish lady who brought Alphys home a week before intent on reading a newspaper while drinking some coffee.

As soon as she noticed me, she greeted me in a rather...unique way “Hya, punk! How're ya doin'?” I swear no-one every introduced themselves to me like that.

“Fine, actually. My cat's slightly ill, so I brought him to the vet...and discovered your fiancé was the vet.”

“Oh, ya didn't know? Well, Alphy does a lot of stuff, technically she's the Royal Scientist and all but...she's pretty busy. She also works as a vet, a mechanic, and an engineer.”

“Oh, that's why I almost never see her at work...but then, why did Asriel say that she was an essential member of his entourage?”

“She is. Sorta. She's literally the only monster in this whole town who's got, like, 4 degrees, and she's pretty good at whatever she does. Technically she was about to be fired by Their Majesties after...well, some stuff happened, but Asriel intervened and asked her to work for him instead.”

“That's very nice of him.” I admit, as time passed I came to like Asriel more and more. Even his “dark side”, as I jokingly called them, Chara, was becoming more and more...I don't want to say “warm”, but...less cold, I guess? Overall, the two of them were really nice persons.

“Since Alphy works part-time for Asriel, she spends the rest of her time either doing other jobs or...well, creating some new sick invention. She's still the Royal Scientist, ya dig?”

“I think so.” Now that I knew what was happening, I decided to switch the focus over to Undyne “So, you're the captain of the Royal Guard, right?”

“...Not exactly.” she said that looking away, it felt like that was a touchy argument.

“What do you mean?” even though I knew I shouldn't have done it, I pressed on. I was a lawyer, after all: pressing witnesses was half of my job.

“Dante is the captain. I'm his...second in-command, I suppose. I once was the captain, but then he came and challenged me to a fight to prove he was better than me.”

“And what happened next?”

“I lost, of course. Couldn't even land a hit, dammit. He just used...one single friggin punch to K.O. me...I've never felt so humiliated in my whole life...” she really seemed embarrassed by that. I couldn't do anything else than give her my support.

“Thanks, punk, but now we're cool, me and Dante I mean.” she said with a smile “The only thing that bugs me is...he didn't even fight seriously. I know that when he goes mad he's...scary as heck, but...for some weird reason, I want to see him like that. I want to see how powerful he really is, ya dig?”

“Sort of. Now that you're not the captain anymore, what do you do?”

“Well, practically I'm still in charge. He's busy helping Sans and Alphy in the Town Hall, so I'm still the one who directs the Royal Guard. I direct the squads patrolling the city and...well, sometimes I participate in the action as well!”

That reminded me...what about Temmie's issues? I asked Undyne about that.

“I put my best rookie to patrol the area at night: now that she's there, nobody tries to do anything. Seems like the sabotaging has stopped...for now, at least.” those were good news to hear.

“I guess Temmie has already thanked you and her for your efforts.” I pointed out.

“Yup, she surely did...in her own way, I suppose. Now there's a statue of me in that new neighborhood.”

“No way!”

“Yep. Took only one day to build, apparently. Man, those girls...not even I work as much as they do!”

Some noises came from the second floor, and Undyne asked me if I wanted to go check on Alphys and my cat, and I accepted.

When we entered the room Alphys used to do her veterinary work, we found out that Hero had escaped her grasp and was now running through the room, wreaking havoc upon her tools; we barely managed to stop him before he could do too much damage.

“S-Sorry...he was so fluffy and cuddly and then...well, this happened.” she excused herself.

“Don't worry, he uses that tactic with me as well.” I forgave her.

We, me and Undyne, decided to stay in the room with Alphys until she was done with her check-up; after a few minutes, she came to me and said “D-Done...your cat is fine, but he's d-definitely eating way too much...”

“What should I do?” I asked.

“S-Simply giving him less food each time you feed him s-should suffice, I guess...”

I thanked her for her help, but before I could pay her she asked me “C-Can I do one more...exam on your cat, please?”

“An exam?” I was perplexed, what did she want to do with Hero?

“Y-Yeah...there's a new machine I created t-that I want to test...on him.” her glasses tarnished, and she took them off to clean them; meanwhile, she assured “I-It's not dangerous or anything...j-just, a simple test, that's all I ask...”

I looked over to Undyne, and she gave me a thumbs-up while smiling with those...creepy, sharp teeth. I didn't feel like it was a good idea, but Alphys seemed excited so I decided to do her that favor.

 

“Okay, just...let me give him this collar...”

I noticed that when Alphys was concentrated, she tended to stutter less. I didn't know what she was going to do to my cat, but I didn't ask her because she told me she was going to tell me soon.

The collar looked...futuristic, to say the least: it would've been a normal gray collar if it wasn't for those weird lights that turned on and off seemingly at random. Perhaps I needed to worry.

“Excuse me, what is that thing?” I inquired.

“This is a prototype for an animal speech translator! Basically, if everything goes right, we'll be able to understand what your cat is saying!” she couldn't curb her emotions, but I was still worried.

“And...if it doesn't? What if this test fails?”

“Worst case scenario, he'll explode.” I was about to run and stop the experiment, but then Alphys activated the machine before I could do anything about it. Seeing that nothing happened, I calmed down a bit and let her do her job.

“Okay, is this working? Can you please talk?” she asked my cat, who looked at her funny. Was she really trying to talk to a cat? Did she expect an answer, maybe?

“I will eat your flesh, drink your blood and feast on your soul.” he answered, looking at her like she was some sort of toy “I mean, meow.”

I couldn't even say anything, my lower jaw was hanging open and my mind was going through places no-one should ever go through. Undyne seemed to be in my exact same condition.

Alphys took her collar off of my cat and said, a bit embarrassed “Hehe, I-I...uh, t-this is likely a bug...b-but hey, that's what experimenting is for, right?”

“Y-You mean...my cat didn't say what he just said?” I wanted an explanation, immediately.

“Y-Yes! T-That's exactly what h-happened...t-the collar needs t-to get fixed ASAP, so...can I use your cat more often, please?”

I looked at her diagonally, before she added “I-I won't make you pay for today's visit!”

Still looking at her suspiciously “A-And for the next ones too!”

“...And?”

“A-And I'll pay you as well.”

“Deal.” if something was wrong with my cat, I didn't want to deal with him. But hey, compromising was one of the fundamentals of life, and a skill I mastered a long time ago: why should I just let them toy with my cat when I could be payed to let them do that?

“O-Okay then...let's sign an appointment for...tomorrow, at 6:00 pm.” Alphys took her phone and signed the date without asking for my approval.

“I can't bring it to you at 6:00 pm, I'll be returning from work by then!”

“D-Don't worry: you live with the prince, and Undyne knows where that is: I'll ask her to bring me your c-critter.”

“Y-Yeah! I'll do that!” Undyne stuttered: that didn't convince me...but then again, free money.

I caged Hero and went on my merry way...

“Okay, I don't know what the heck you are anymore, but hey...” I petted him while he was in his cage; he relaxed a bit and let me caress him “At least you'll be paying your rent this way.”

He meowed, and kept rubbing his fluffy head on my hand.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once my new work will go live, it's very likely I'll lose interest in this one, and the uploads will be less frequent.  
> I promise you, though, to publish an upload on "The Social Rule" at least once or twice a week, depending on how I feel like it.  
> So...while you're waiting for my new fic, go check out this one (http://archiveofourown.org/works/6070209)  
> It's made by one of my readers, and it's pretty good. So go, my army of cats [aka you =3]: migrate to that work, and enjoy your stay!


	12. Nightmares and Mirages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At midnight, Ebott is suddenly under attack by terrorists.  
> But thankfully there's a bunch of weirdos who can intervene...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow is the big day!  
> I'm so freaking excited!  
> I'll release an update here when the first chapter will go live, and I expect you all to come...  
> I promise you, it's going to be worth it...
> 
> Also, we finally have some action!

 

“Elizabeth, have you finished correcting that law project?” Asriel asked me, without even looking at me; he was too busy to divert his gaze from his documents.

“Yeah, I'm already correcting the next one...” I looked at him briefly, then returned to my work; it was midnight, but we were still in the Town Hall, minding our business. We had a conference the day following, and we needed to prepare a lot of files for the American Embassy to read and approve, but we didn't make it in time that afternoon so now we had to finish the work, even though it was so late.

I was getting bored and tired, but I understood the importance of my work so I kept going on anyway; meanwhile, Asriel yawned, he probably felt like me in that moment. Being the ambassador of monsterkind was a heavy burden, but I was there to support him.

Until...

“'Sup kids.” the skeleton arrived in the room, without me noticing: Sans had the night-watch, he had to supervise the city and help Undyne's Royal Guard patrol the settlement; usually he stayed in Dante's office, never coming to Asriel's.

“What's wrong?” Asriel asked.

“You should...you should come to my office.” he suggested, before vanishing.

Asriel was already alarmed, and urged me to stop working and go investigate with him. When we arrived to the dark room filled with laptops, screens and strange machinery, we found him looking at a small screen: the camera was pointed at a big intersection, which I remembered passing through countless times to go and return from work.

“What's so important about that?” I asked.

“Wait a moment.” he simply answered.

After a few seconds, some dark masses appeared from a side-road a few meters ahead; Sans pressed a button on a remote control he had in his hand, and now the image was in black-and-white: the masses were big vans, driving at high speed towards the streets of Ebott. Most monsters went to sleep before 10:00 pm, so I wondered who was driving those vans...

“Sans, please use the Thermal Vision.” Asriel commanded...politely.

“Sure thing.”

The skeleton pressed another button and the screen flashed; a picture was projected on the display of a nearby laptop just as the vehicles exited the camera's vision.

“Let's see...oh gee...” the skeleton exclaimed as he slightly backed away from the computer “Look at those images.”

Asriel stood in front of the laptop, me right behind him: the vans were full with people carrying...something that reminded me a lot of...no, there was no mistake. Those were weapons.

“What the hell?” I yelled.

“This can't be happening...” Asriel was giving up to the panic “We're not prepared for this situation...” he was now walking in circles across the room, mumbling something to himself.

“There's more.” Sans said “Look closely at the images. In some of the vans, there are a few...boxes, or something like that.” I searched for the boxes Sans mentioned, and I found a few of them inside some, but not all, of the vans.

“What are those?” I asked.

“I highly suspect them to be bombs.” he explained in a grave tone.

 

We had a few minutes to devise a counter-attack: from a prince's lawyer to a military adviser, all in a few seconds. Asriel was now talking with Undyne by phone about how to intercept these...terrorists, that was the word he used. I wasn't sure if they really were terrorists, but that wasn't the time to argue over such silly questions.

“My Guards are already in the city, but it'll take time before they can respond to the threat; what are my orders?” I heard Undyne ask Asriel at the phone.

“We're still trying to figure out where they want to hit, once we'll have a clear idea you'll receive more specific orders.” he told her.

“What do I have to tell them? The Guards, I mean.”

“Killing is an option, but I would prefer we keep at least one of these terrorists alive to interrogate after we're done. Do not hold back...but stay safe. I don't want to lose anyone tonight.”

“Gotcha.” she answered, and turned off the call.

“I think I now know what they're aiming at.” Sans announced, and called me and Asriel to a huge screen, showing a digital reconstruction of Eastern Ebott.

“There are eight vans in total, and they have divided themselves in three groups...” a line appeared on the screen, starting from the intersection from before and ending...right were we were, at the Town Hall “The main group, which is made of five vehicles, is coming this way, and I doubt they would bother coming here unless they were aiming at this very building.”

“There are no policemen in this area at night. This means we're defenseless.” Asriel commented.

“Not quite: we have Dante. Since these terrorists will be here in...less than one minute, I would suggest you to call him right now.” Asriel did as the skeleton suggested, meanwhile Sans explained to me the rest of their strategy “The second group is just one van, and they're aiming...” a line appeared, pointing generically at the neighborhood...where I lived “...Right there.”

“That's where my...I mean, Asriel's house is!”

“Yeah, but it's also one of the most populated districts of the city; however, if they sent only one van then I have to question what is their goal...if they wanted a mass slaughter, then they wouldn't have sent only one group to do the job...the other group, however...” another arrow appeared pointing towards a neighborhood I had never visited before “...Is going over there.”  
“And?”

“And...I don't know. It's not very populated, and there are no huge monuments or whatever...but there is a park, with a marble statue of the King and Queen inside. They _may_ be aiming there...but it's too early to be sure. I'm still keeping an eye on them, you inform Asriel about what I told you.”

I approached Asriel and summarized Sans' explanation.

“We don't have much time, they're going to be here in seconds...”

“Is Dante coming?” if he wasn't there, I would've had to rely on Asriel and Sans to defend myself...and I didn't know how well they would've fared against modern weapons: I recalled Asriel telling me monsters' bodies were more-

The frontal door busted open, as a bunch of armed people ran inside...I tried to count them: they were roughly twenty people, carrying weapons I only knew by name and (faintly) by their shape. AK-47s, M-16s...those people were very dangerous, and were now inside our Town Hall...but before they could traverse even a quarter of the hallway that separated them from us, a figure appeared out of nowhere, in the air, in the middle of a tornado of black dust: Dante.

When he finally touched the ground, I recognized that...he was wearing a blue pajama with pictures of teddy bears. That was cute, and the men who walked in started laughing at him.

“YES! IT'S A PAJAMA WITH TEDDY BEARS! IT WAS ON SALE, OKAY?” he was yelling at the top of his lungs, a fiery rage burning in his eyes. He was fucking pissed.

“Do you even know what time is it? I was sleeping, goddammit!” he was yelling at the men, who were still laughing but pointing their weapons at him; they weren't shooting, however.

Now, Dante was wearing a black robe (which just...appeared, out of nowhere) that looked like Neo's outfit from “The Matrix”...don't ask me how I knew about that film.

“I didn't even get to drink my fucking coffee! I'm SO fucking mad!” he slowly advanced towards the terrorists, his eyes had changed color: his left eye was now black, while his right one was now red. I didn't know what this meant, or how did they change color, but I knew this wasn't a good sign.

“You know, let's make a deal.” he laughed, then continued “If you throw your weapons away and exit that fucking door right now, then I won't kill you, I swear.”

The men waited a few seconds, before one of the guys in the front ordered to fire. I thought Dante was doomed...but before the bullets could hit the man, he somehow summoned a huge dark shield to defend himself.

The men ceased fire, and the shield disappeared “Oh, well.” Dante summoned two black blades, one in each of his hands “At least it'll be fun...for me.” he then blinked in front of one of the terrorists, slashing him from bottom to top: the men flew in the air, and Dante didn't stop attacking him, inflicting blow after blow in mid-air even though his victim had already died.

The enemies started shooting at him again, but even though he was now getting fired at from all directions it didn't seem like the bullets were even doing any damage: he resisted all the attacks, and surprisingly his clothes did as well. I questioned why he had summoned a shield, before, since he could survive such an onslaught of firing power.

Dante changed weapon after every kill, murdering his opponents in a different way each time: he started with two swords, then proceeded to use pistols, sub-machine-guns, sniper rifles and...was that a rocket launcher? He seemed like he was taking pleasure from murdering those criminals, a pleasure so insane and perverted it was...inhuman. I didn't know what to say, I was blown away from such a brutal show of death and destruction.

I looked away only to find Asriel in front of a set of screens that showed the inside of...our house?

Frisk was sleeping in her bed, her phone was vibrating on the drawer next to her; Asriel was the caller “Come on Frisk, wake up...” he kept muttering to himself.

Ignoring the noises and screams that were perfectly audible even without the audio feed of the cameras installed in the hallway, I decided to turn my attention to our home. Frisk finally decided to answer the phone, even though she was still half asleep “Mmh...who is it?”

“Frisk, you have to wake up, now!” Asriel yelled.

“Asriel...why are you yelling? It's way past midnight...”

“Listen, there are armed people right outside of our house!” I looked at one of the screens nearby: a single van was parked in front of our building, armed people exiting it and preparing to raid it. My worries were correct...they really were after our house.

Meanwhile Frisk, still unconvinced by her stepbrother's words, had come closer to the window and looked outside of it: once she realized what was happening, she immediately ducked under her window “Oh crap!”

“Listen, you have to keep calm and keep quiet: help is on the way.”

“Asriel, you know I'm good at dodging magical bullets...but those are real guns! I don't know if I'm fast enough...”

“I don't want to find out either. Stay sharp, and be ready for everything.”

Frisk interrupted the call just as the men busted the entrance: while the terrorists were busy searching in the kitchen and in the living room, Frisk had quietly walked next to the door, ready for them to come upstairs. However, they waited for quite some time before actually moving to the upper floor: maybe they were scared, or they wanted to be sure the first floor was secure. Perhaps they didn't know of Frisk's presence...

One of them ventured upstairs: he climbed up the stairs and went right. That was were Frisk's room was...I prayed she could hear the footsteps and was preparing for the encounter...from the looks of it, she did hear them: as the man entered the room and pointed his weapon at the air, Frisk quickly punched him in the nuts and in the stomach.

The human fell to his knees, dropping his weapon to the ground: Frisk grabbed it and hit him on the head with it, making him fall unconscious; the other terrorists heard the noises and were climbing the stairs, now all Frisk could do was to shoot the gun at the wall next to the stairs to keep them at bay.

Despite the weight of the gun, Frisk was handling it pretty well: she wasn't even using all her ammunition at once, she was firing small flurries of bullets, as to avoid recharging. However, in the worst possible moment, she ended the ammunition, and from the looks of it she didn't know how to reload the weapon.

But before the men could enter the room, something else entered it from the window: a feminine figure, enveloped in a red coat, a shining sword in her hand. The gunslingers entered the room, and they started shooting at whoever that girl was, but she deflected the bullets with her sword, swinging it left and right with impressive speed: one of the bullets was deviated to one of the shooters' knee, making him fall to the ground and whimper in pain. The other one ended the ammunition and started running towards her with a knife, but she cut through him like a cake. The man fell to the ground, lifeless, while the girl put her sword back in her sheet. From the looks of it, there were no other men in the house: Frisk survived, somehow.

After sighing of relief, I asked Asriel “Who is that lady?”

“She's Red, one of the newest recruits of the Royal Guard.”

“What?” I was surprised, I never expected a rookie to be so powerful.

The woman looked into the camera, taking off her coat: her face looked like that of a human, except her nose, which looked a lot like that of a dog. She had weird, white eyes, and curly orange hair. She was pretty cute, as she stood in front of the camera saluting Asriel, who jokingly returned the salute even though she couldn't see him; she then proceeded to check on Frisk and get a grasp of the situation: the man who was hit in the knee was still on the ground, in pain. Red approached Frisk and told her something, before exiting the room. After that, Asriel decided to stop looking at our home and we decided to look at the hallway right outside the room.

Dante had decimated all of the enemy combatants, all by himself: he stood in the middle of the hallway, brandishing a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. He was smiling sadistically, and I found him very creepy.

Just then, something started running towards the entrance from one of the pillars: probably a guy who got scared and was now trying to escape; Dante aimed his weapon at him, but before he could shoot the entrance got bust open again as a deep blue motorcycle flew in the air and landed on the cowardly gunman, stopping him.

The centaur was wearing a helmet that didn't let me see her face; however, from her...very visible breasts I understood she was a girl. She was wearing a pajama as well, which seemed a little odd to me.

She got off her ride and took off her helmet: she was a woman on her twenties, like me, but she had long, black curly hair and blue eyes. She was middle-height and very slim, and she didn't look very happy “Dante Alighieri!” she screamed towards Dante. Wait, he was Dante like the poet?

“You had to do it, didn't you?” she screamed furious towards him while he dropped that terrible aura of evil that surrounded him “Ain't you mature enough to at least TELL me when you go murder people?” she talked with a British accent, but she didn't look like one of those British gentlemen and gentlewomen you constantly see in films and talk shows.

“A-Alice! W-What are you doing here?” he seemed in distress.

“I came to look after you because you fucking DISAPPEARED! I've never been so fucking scared in my whole goddamn life!”

“B-But you said that two weeks ago too-”

“Shut. Up. You're fucking dead, I tell you that much.”

Dante reached in his pocket, and took something out of his jacket: it looked like a small pill...oh no “There's only one thing to do...” he said, as he swallowed the pill and fell to the ground instantly.

“Is...Is he dead?” I asked my employee.

“No, he's not. That's not cyanide: it's a sleeping pill for elephants. That thing can make you sleep for days even...” the lady didn't take Dante's cowardly act well and immediately approached him and kicked him in the stomach: even though he jumped in his sleep, he didn't wake up.

She snorted “Fine, I'll have to bring you home myself...” she carried the body to her motorcycle and took it off the still unconscious terrorist “I swear, when you wake up, I'll kill you myself.” and she disappeared, riding her motorcycle in the cold night.

“Guys, we have a problem.” Sans told us, and we approached him: some terrorists were setting up what looked like a bomb next to a statue of...the King and Queen; the skeleton knew his city, dammit.

“What is the problem?” I asked “So far we managed to stop two of the attacks...”

“But now, thanks to Alice, Dante's gone and there's no-one in that area right now. Dogamy and Dogaressa are the closest to the park, but they're still a minute away and that bomb can detonate whenever they want.”

“Seems like a work for me.” a boyish voice arrived from behind me: when I turned around, I saw him, Hex, sitting on the desk.

“Deal with this situation, right now!” Asriel shouted at him.

“Nah, I'm too lazy to do that. But I know someone who isn't...” he took a phone out of his pocket, and dialed a number “Your time to shine, girl.”

“Finally, do you know since how long I've been sitting on this goddamn tree?” a girlish voice answered...that voice...wasn't it...

The man who was fiddling with the device got shot in the head from somewhere, and his companions got alerted: something jumped from atop a nearby tree to right in the middle of the other five men, and then started shooting at them with the two small guns she had. In a few seconds, they all dropped to the ground, dead.

Now that she was standing alone, in the moonlight, I could see her better: she was a kid, she had long straight black hair with shades of purple and black eyes. She had a surprisingly modest breast for a dweeb; she was also quite tall and slim. She was wearing a black outfit which reminded me a lot of Dante's, with a few exceptions: she wasn't wearing a robe, but a black jacket with a strange picture on the backside which I couldn't recognize, a black t-shirt with another picture I couldn't understand, and black trousers; she was also wearing black boots with medium-height heels and black, fingerless fighting gloves.

“Drop your weapon!” a masculine voice shouted behind the girl. A man was slowly advancing towards her, pointing a pistol at her face “Drop it!” he repeated.

The girl raised her hands up in the air, still holding her pistols firmly, then dropped one of them to the ground; “The other one too!” he didn't like the joke.

“How boring...” she commented, and dropped the other weapon as well. The terrorist probably thought he was safe, but the girl was smirking, and that meant she had a plan.

Suddenly, she kicked the air and pointed her right boot's heel right between the man's face; while he was still surprised from the useless-looking act, a shot was heard and he fell to the ground. The shot came from _inside_ the girl's trousers, did that mean she had guns on her _legs_ as well? That was impossible...how was she able to shoot them without pressing any triggers?

She ran to the bomb, and confirmed it was secured “Doesn't seem like they managed to activate it in time. Mission Accomplished.”

“I just love them “Flawless” ratings.” the boy commented, before adding “Okay, you're free to go, Frisk.”

“FRISK?” me and Asriel yelled.

“Don't worry, it's not the Frisk you know. She owes me, so...”

“Fuck you.” she replied, not letting him finish his sentence “I'm going out. Tell Chara, or Dante or whatever the heck he calls himself I said hi.” a shady-looking portal appeared next to her, and she slowly walked inside: as she disappeared inside of it, the portal itself disappeared.

“Well, that was...something.” Asriel managed to say “You're still to blame for everything that happened, right?” what did he mean by that?

“Yep. How much?”

“Five million gold coins.” were they negotiating over something? Those were high numbers...

“Ready cash or bank check?” the boy asked.

Asriel looked at him funny, so he answered to himself “Bank check...” a check appeared out of nowhere inside Asriel's paw “This should cover all the damage. I would suggest using the leftovers to buy a nice house abroad. You know, maybe one of those cabins near a nice lake...in Summer...crap, I want one of those damn cabins...” he disappeared, still muttering stuff to himself.

We stayed up all night to make sure no more attacks would've ensued but thankfully, at least for now, the nightmare was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you ask...  
> First, that's Red from the Undertale - Red fangame, as I've mentioned in the tags. She's...pretty cool, we'll explore her character later.  
> Second, that's Alice. That Alice. The one that I kept mentioning in my first work but never actually showed. Now she's hear. Same goes for her.  
> Third...that's technically spoilers. But hey, that's also cross-referencing, and that always brings the hype up! =3
> 
> Here's the strawpoll for the next chapters:  
> http://strawpoll.me/6948269  
> This time, since there are so many options (and everyone's probably going to vote the last one...) you can make multiple choices!  
> However, I recommend you to pick a maximum of two, three choices...voting everything would be pretty useless, don't you think? =3


	13. When Paths Cross

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asriel, Frisk, Elizabeth and Dante are doing their usual daily chores...suddenly, crossovers happen. =3

IT'S OUT.

FREAKING FINALLY!

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6461026

  
This is a crossover between The Social Rule, my other fic Not all villains are evil and SamIamNot13's work Above.

We worked hard to deliver a satisfying product that will (hopefully) make up for my laziness in updating on this fic.

Once again, apologizes for that.

This work is non-canon and reading it isn't necessary at all to understand this fic's plot, nor does it expand it. It's a fun thing made for fun by funny people.

I hope to see you over there, Ciao!


	14. Incognita

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth meets a new foe...or is it actually a friend?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I have to apologize for two things.  
> First, the lack of uploads. I've just started working on my new fic, and I love it way, and I mean WAY more than this one. It feels so refreshing...but I do understand there are people who love this work as well. So, I'll keep updating on this work...at least once or twice a week, but not more than that. Sorry.  
> Second, with this chapter I've finally become a viewgrabber (you knew moneygrabbers[tm] before, now introducing viewgrabbers[tm]). This chapter is way too short, but...I didn't have any ideas XwX please forgive me, the next chapters will be more lenghty. Besides, this was supposed to be a bonus chapter or something similar, so please don't be angry. =3

“Well, at least the coffee is good...” I muttered to myself as I took a sip of my warm drink. I was still thinking about last night's events, still incredulous at what had happened not even twelve hours ago: armed men had broke in my office and my own home, aiming to take my life and those of my employer and his stepsister.

We stayed up until 4:00 am, then we went to sleep; Asriel decided to postpone every meeting he had planned the next day and gifted me a one-day vacation. It was more of a break than a real vacation, but I appreciated the gift; so here I was, drinking coffee in a bar called “Grillby's”, alone. Asriel was too tired to accompany me, and Dante and the others were busy interrogating the survivors of the accident.

As I was sipping my coffee, I noticed a woman entering the bar: not noticing her was impossible, especially since she started walking towards me. Precisely me.

She was tall and very slim; she had long, silver hair (but she looked young, so maybe they were dyed) and yellow eyes. She was wearing a long blue dress decorated with black diagonal stripes and a few diamonds on her neckband and under that black, simple trousers, while her shoes were practical and blue.

At first I dismissed the idea she was aiming for me, as there were plenty of free tables around me, but when I saw her pull a chair from another table and sit right in front of me, I had to face it: this woman didn't come here to drink some coffee.

“Grillby, a cup of espresso, please.” she referred to the bartender, a fire monster who wore a tuxedo and glasses and didn't seem to be very talkative, who proceeded to prepare her drink.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“You're Elizabeth Starseeker, lawyer of prince Asriel Dreemurr, correct?” she didn't answer my question but that didn't stop her from asking me something else, apparently.

“Yes, I am. How do you know that?” I asked.

“I saw Alphys Shai's trial two weeks ago. I was in the jury.” her gaze was expressionlessly staring at me, but she didn't seem bad “You've done a really good job, and you've humiliated that clown of Campbell.”

“T-Thanks...destroying that douche has been amazing, I can tell you that much!” even though I was talking with a complete stranger, I wasn't afraid of saying what I truly felt.

“I understand the feeling. That idiot has always been on my nerves...” I looked at her weirdly: did she know that prosecutor as well?

“You asked for my name, right? I'm Margaret Arcana, new prosecutor of Western Ebott.” good thing I wasn't drinking in that moment, because I would've probably choked if I was. I couldn't believe what I just heard: was I speaking with yet another asshole?

“Don't worry, I'm not bad...” a small chuckle escaped from her once she saw my expression “...In fact, I'm not racist at all. Even if I've been in this city for less than a month, I have to admit: these creatures truly are good...” Grillby came to give her her coffee, which she accepted gladly.

“What do you want from me, exactly?” I asked, a bit confused.

“Meet you in person, of course. Not everyone could've pulled off a trick like the one you used in that courtroom, miss. How did you do that?” she was very interested in the matter.

“Well...I guess someone gave me a hint?” I was a bit embarrassed, saying it like that gave me much less credit.

“A hint? Who helped you, exactly?”

“Well...Dante surely helped a lot...”

“You mean Asriel's bodyguard? The one who's present at all his conferences?”

“Yeah, him. Another guy helped me a bit...but I still have to figure him out.”

She drank her coffee all at once, and sighed “I understand...” she turned her gaze to look at the park just outside the bar: it was the same park the terrorists tried to attack the day before, with those two statues of King Asgore and Queen Toriel “Did you hear about yesterday's attacks? I heard that armed men attacked the city at night...”

“Yes, it's true. I was there when it happened.” I didn't know if I could talk about that stuff, but as long as I stayed vague and didn't reveal any crucial information I thought I could've been honest “I'm still...terrified. Having some gunslingers come into your office at night isn't a pleasant experience...”

“I see, I see...” she seemed as scared as me, I think she was beginning to warm up a little bit “It must have been horrible, being so defenseless in your own office...but you're still alive, and that's what matters.”

“Yeah, you're right.” that made me feel a lot better, actually.

“Well, I need to go to work now.” she got up, but she still looked at me in the eyes “Even though I'm not as impolite as the other prosecutor, I'm still supposed to be the accuse. So, I'll try to convince the jury of the defendant's guiltiness even if it seems impossible.” she used once again that cold stare of hers, which made me feel a bit cold.  
“But...monsters can't possibly be criminals! They're too gentle and innocent to ever go against the law, or even hurt someone for that matter!”

“I know, I understand your viewpoint. However, I'm essentially a representative of the government...of the people. If they believe someone's guilty, then I have to demonstrate their point...even if I don't believe in it. That is my job, that is my cause...” she smirked “...That's why I get paid.”

She waved her goodbyes at me and left the bar, leaving me completely astonished.

“That's a weird girl.” where she sat before, now sat Asriel's bodyguard and best friend, Dante “Never met anyone like her before.”

“H-How did you?” I backed off, launching myself away from the table: I still hated whenever he appeared like that, out of nowhere. It always scared me, even if I was getting accustomed to it.

He stood silent, watching the entrance of the bar, as if still looking for that woman who just exited; after a while, out of curiosity, I asked “Didn't you take some sleeping pills some time ago?”

“The effect wore out.” he simply answered.

“Dude, those were _elephant-sized_ sleeping pills. It's impossible-”

“I have you know, those only take me out for...maybe two, three hours at maximum. If I want to get some real sleep, I take _dragon-sized_ sleeping pills.” I looked at him funny, so he quickly explained “That's a joke by the way.”

“Oh, good. I was actually beginning to think there were dragon-sized sleeping pills, hehe...”

“We're dealing with those fuckers right now, anyway.” he looked at me straight in the eyes “...But we had to delay, since those damn Americans wanted to intervene...”

“...What?” I honestly didn't know what he was talking about.

“Yeah, some guys from the FBI, or maybe the CIA I can't remember, came and asked us to participate to the interrogation. I kicked them out of the fucking door, I seriously can't stand those guys. They think that just because they got nice suits and sunglasses they can do everything they want...sorry guys, that's my prerogative.”

We spent the next few minutes talking, after that we went our separate ways: he had to keep interrogating those terrorists...and I wanted to go relax somewhere. There had to be some place to relax in Ebott, maybe a spa or...perhaps a gym, I didn't know.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would recommend you to check out my new fic, Not all villains are evil (aka the corniest title ever) here on the archive as well.  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/6127207  
> It's my finest work up to date, and it contains way less grammar errors than this one...or the previous one. God, that one was shitty.  
> But yeah, I hope to see you there. I promise you, you're not going to be disappointed. =3


	15. The Hierophant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth decides to go on an adventure with Frisk and her skeleton friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY! I KNOW I'VE BEEN MISSING UPLOADS LAST WEEK!  
> Reason is, I'm starting to dislike writing this story: I prefer much more writing Not all villains are evil (here's the link, go check it out http://archiveofourown.org/works/6127207) than this...  
> I know there's a lot of guys that love this work, and I've also got another surprise for you coming...whenever, but...please understand.  
> I'll keep uploading at least once a week, but...yeah, the productivity will severely decrease. As the quality will. Sorry. =3

When I returned home, I immediately spotted Frisk sitting on the sofa like she did the night before, when she was surprised by those criminals; she was wearing her usual attire, azure t-shirt, blue jeans and black shoes. As soon as she saw me, she greeted me kindly with a warm smile “Welcome back!”

“Hello, Frisk. Do you know if Asriel is awake?” I asked.

“Oh, he has left: he said he was going to check on Dante and the others...I asked him to bring me with him, but...” she seemed a bit sad and she shivered slightly.

“Why did you want to come along?” I inquired.

“It's...it's because I'm afraid of being alone.”

“Well, of course you're scared: after what happened last night, you must surely be-”

“No, what happened last night isn't the reason why.” I was a bit surprised: I didn't expect that reaction “I've always feared...loneliness. I hate being alone, I always need to be near others...I can't even exit the house if I'm alone. I would love to stay with you and Asriel all day long, but...I understand you two already have enough problems without me.”

I didn't expect her to have such an irrational fear of loneliness: I always saw her as a cheerful girl. Cute, curious, interesting and fearless: those were the adjectives that described her best...at least so I thought. Evidently I misunderstood her: she must have had some secrets she kept to herself...maybe she hid them from Asriel as well. I didn't ask her further about it.

“Since I'm alone, I should probably call a friend of mine.” she grabbed her smartphone from her jeans' pockets and dialed a number; after a while, she said “Hi Pap!”

“Hello, human!” Frisk didn't turn the loudspeaker on and yet I could still hear the voice on the other side: it was...weird, it sounded boyish but I couldn't figure out what kind of monster such a voice could belong to...or did it belong to a human? “What are you doing right now?” the voice asked.

“I'm at home, alone: can I participate in one of your “tours”?” I didn't know what Frisk wanted to do, but considering Asriel gave her permission to do everything she wanted at home I didn't worry too much.  
“Of course, dear friend! I'm already there!” the man on the other side hung up, and a second later someone knocked on the door; I looked over to Frisk who simply shrugged her shoulders as she remarked “He did say he was already here.”

“How many people know how to blink in this town?” I asked, surprised.

“Only Dante and Sans. Pap is extremely fast though, so you might mistake it for blinking.” she got up from the sofa and opened the door: on the other side was a very tall skeletal monster, wearing a very odd attire which reminded me of that show my brother watched when he was little, the “Power Rangers” or something like that.

Like Sans, this monster resembled a human skeleton, though this one was more similar to an actual skeleton than Dante's co-worker: I wondered if those two monsters were related, since I remember Sans making a pun involving his “brother” once. Apart from being very tall, there wasn't a lot to say about the monster's physical appearance, however his attire was quite complex: a white armor-like chest-piece and an orange scarf, blue shorts and huge orange boots. I could already tell this monster wasn't very...normal.

“Greetings, human!” he greeted Frisk very formally, but I could tell those two were more than simple friends from the extreme hand-shake they gave each other. The monster's voice was...weird: it seemed like he was controlling it, or that he was talking in an abnormal way; that was, however, a very weird assumption, so I dismissed it entirely.

“Hello, Pap.” she greeted him “How are you?”

“Amazingly fine, human! What about you?” yeah, those two looked like best friends.

“Oh, you know...bored as heck. Mind bringing me and my friend on one of your “tours?” she seemed to have already decided for me, but I had the day free so I was ready for whatever shenanigans she had in store for me.

“You must be Elizabeth! My brother told me so much about you!” he shook my hand as vigorously as he shook Frisk's, I could only return it as powerfully as he did “It's a pleasure. With “brother” you mean Sans, right?” I inquired.

“But of course!” he explained enthusiastically “I, the great Papyrus, couldn't have asked for a better brother indeed!” I looked over to Frisk, which limited herself to shrug her shoulders: it seemed as though the monster's...impressive ego was perfectly normal. I wasn't sure if to take him seriously or not, so I asked another simple question “What did Sans say about me?”

The monster was about to say something, but then his expression shifted becoming much more...serious? Suspicious? “Actually, not a lot.” for some reason, I expected that “But I do know you help prince Asriel!”

“Yeah, I do. I'm his lawyer.” I simply explained to the monster...which from what I understood was called “Papyrus”.

“I once worked for prince Asriel too!” he kept on rambling about how he had been his driver for a month before being “restaffed” to the city's taxi system; now, he seemed to give people “tours” of the city for a modest amount of money.

“But, since the human here-” he pointed at Frisk “Is my absolute best friend, I will give you a 100% discount! Which means, you'll be touring the city for free!” he closed his eyesockets (which was a thing even Sans did from time to time, but I still had not figured out how they did it) and put his right hand on his chest, posing heroically “The great Papyrus does it again!”

Frisk applauded him, and she convinced me with her gaze to do the same.

“Anyways, we should start this tour posthaste!” he moved away from the door, revealing a taxi parked right in the middle of the road; if I didn't know there was practically no-one around at that time of the day, I would've been preoccupied for the drivers' well-being.

I got up in the back seat next to Frisk, which seemed very excited: she put on her safety belt, and suggested me to do the same. “I don't participate to these tours for the sightseeing, you know.” she warned me, and I quickly listened to her advice.

Papyrus entered the car from the window, without opening the door: after managing to sit like a normal person, he exclaimed “Now, here we go!” he started the car but before actually moving he asked “Do you have your safety belts on?”

“Of course we do.” Frisk answered.

The monster took some sunglasses from his boxers (no, I wasn't going to ask any questions), put them on and simply answered “Good, safety before all else.” he then pressed the gas pedal and the car started running directly at full speed, the centrifugal force shoving me against the seat.

Frisk was right, sightseeing wasn't possible at all: my primary focus was keeping on breathing, as the air was quite scarce since we were moving so fast. After mere seconds, which looked like ages to me, the car returned to a normal speed: we were in front of the Town Hall, and Papyrus was telling us the history of the building “As far as we know, the Town Hall appeared out of nowhere one night and it's been prince Asriel's headquarters ever since!”

“It appeared out of nowhere one night?” I asked, incredulous.

“Yes, it did! Rumors have circulated regarding it's construction...some say it was I, the great Papyrus, to build it in one night!” he then laughed, but a laugh too weird to be real, it was a literal “Nyeh heh heh heh!”. I looked over to Frisk, whose expression told me everything I needed to know: what he said was a rumor and nothing more. This guy was an authentic cicerone, inventing cool stories for his clients to feed on...but I didn't appreciate the humor.

“Now then, onto the next monument!” he departed at the speed of light once more, and I was once again launched against the seat: I had to learn to anticipate his take offs immediately.

Next, he brought us in front of a house: it looked common, too common to belong to someone important; “Whose house is this?” I asked.  
Frisk facepalmed, as she already knew the answer “That is my house, human! I thought you would've appreciated viewing my home, the home of the great Papyrus!” he laughed once more, and I facepalmed as well: this guy was too egocentric for my tastes.

Next, he brought us to a park somewhere inside the city: it was pretty big, and it was covered in golden flowers. There were some tall trees, but it was mostly golden flowers. “That is Golden Park, the first park ever established in Eastern Ebott! It's not very pretty, but the kids love it! There's a lot of space to play sports, and many monster use this place as a meeting zone to hang out!” I didn't know that, for the first time he said something vaguely interesting.

“Golden park? As in “Golden flower park”?” I asked, a bit skeptic.

“King Asgore named it: after doing so, Asriel decided to let Queen Toriel name things from then on. Because seriously, he sucks at naming things.” Frisk explained, a small smile on her face.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah, I mean...Asriel, As-gore...To-riel...” after a minute spent putting two and two together, I realized “Oooohh...” and I facepalmed yet again. How did I not see that one coming?

We were about to continue the course, when the car stopped and I heard a voice talk through the car's speakers “We interrupt your tour of the city to present...an advertisement!” I faintly recognized the voice as familiar, but the speakers were making it difficult to identify who did it belong to.

“How often did it happen that, while you were noscoping noobs on BO3, a random guy appears in the lobby and starts pawn you until you rage-quit?” what was this guy talking about? “That's right: always! And I bet you're pretty furious too!”

“Yes, I am!” Frisk seemed very interested in the advertisement; I was sorta glad I couldn't understand a word.

“Do you wish you could prevent those loominarty fags from joining your game?” the voice taunted.

“Yes, yes!” Frisk almost got up from the excitement.

“Well, too bad! Because we don't give a damn!” the voice disappeared and the car restarted as normal: it seemed like the commercial break was over.

“You...” the girl seemed on the verge of a hysteric crisis, but I managed to shut her mouth with my hand before she could swear in front of the monster. After whispering to my hand all the swear words she knew, the girl calmed herself down and thanked me for my aid “Sorry, I don't like swearing in front of friends.”

“Swearing is really bad, human!” Papyrus admonished her.

“Yeah, yeah...sorry...” she excused herself, but she didn't look very guilty.

 

After going through a lot of other minor monuments and racing through a tunnel upside-down, we returned home with our stomachs pretty messed up: Frisk and I exited the car immediately and fell to the ground, almost giving in to the vomit.

“Worth it...” she exclaimed.

“Definitely not...” I added, irritated.

“Well, humans, the tour is finished; now, this is the part where you hand me the payment...but since you two are my best friends, I will gift you this course.” since when had we become friends? It didn't matter though, I was more than happy to have another friend in that insane town.

“Now, if you would excuse me, duty calls!” the monster boarded his vehicle from the window once more and launched off at the speed of light, never to be seen again.

“How did you two become friends?” I asked my companion.

“Long story, the morale is: make all the friends that you can.” she walked towards the house, and addded “...You never know when you might need them, or when they might need you.”

I walked next to her and smiled to her: despite her young age, she was an authentic dispenser of wise advice; together, we entered the house and decided to watch some TV together.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Strawpoll is the same as last time, go vote if you haven't already!  
> http://strawpoll.me/6948269


	16. VI: The Lovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FUCK YEAH WE'RE BACK!  
> I mean, Elizabeth is invited to the new Town Hall, where she meets an interesting lady...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE! ARE! BACK! HERE!  
> After one and a half months of inactivity, this fucking fic has been reborn! And now, it will be written much better (thank you Not all villains are evil, writing you taught me so much...)  
> I can't promise a regular upload schedule, since I still consider Not all villains are evil my "main fic"...plus I started rewriting Not all heroes are born good...  
> Look guys, I'm stressed. Schools is killing me, my classmates are douches, everything that could possibly happen is happening to me. Well, not everything...you know what I'm saying.  
> Don't worry, however: uploads will be released once every...less than two weeks. Yeah, that should do it.  
> Without further ado let's jump right in!

I spent the next hour playing with Frisk: watching TV programs with her, listening to her sing...anything that made her happy, we did it. She eventually brought me to her laptop and showed me an online card game she liked a lot: at first I couldn't understand a word of what she was saying, and the game looked pretty complicated too...but you didn't need to be a genius to understand she was owning her opponents. Not only was she an extremely intelligent tactician, she also had luck on her side...a preposterous amount of luck, to be precise. She always drew the right card at the right moment, and those cards that needed a bit of luck to...be useful, or whatever they did, they never failed. It was exhilarating watching her opponents' faces burst into shreds...but duty called when I least expected it.

“Hello there, Elizabeth. Did you sleep well?” my boss, of course.

I was kinda glad he called, actually, I needed to know how he was “Hey! Slept well?”  
“Like a rock, if I may say so. My sleep was a bit troubled at first, but that stopped fairly quickly. But what about you? Are you still...shocked about what happened yesterday?” his caring voice warmed my insides.

“Don't...don't worry, I'm fine.” I lied, I wasn't fine at all. It took me a whole morning to get that night out of my head, and I had yet to accept what happened before my eyes: I could've died, right there. A lot of people could've died...Asriel could've died.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“ **We're interrogating the survivors right now: they're stubborn, but they will talk eventually. Dante is very...persuasive. And I am as well.** ” I heard Chara on the other side, making me shiver for a second before assessing to the situation “ **Anyway, the new Town Hall is done. That's where we're interrogating those sons of bitches...why don't you come here too? We need to have a word with you before our next meeting...** ”

“Oh...okay. See you there then...” I hung up. I briefly re-listened to the conversation in my head: new Town Hall...interrogating them there...come soon...oh crap, I needed to go!

I told the little girl where I was going and excused myself for leaving her alone.

“It's fine, don't worry! I'll just be here, climbing the ladder up to “legend rank” once more...” I waved my goodbyes and left the house...then I remembered I was on foot.

“Who you gonna call...” I mumbled as I dialed the number Frisk had gave me half an hour before...

 

“Thanks for the ride...Pap...” I managed to thank the skeleton before finally escaping from the devilry that was his vehicle.

“You're welcome, human!” the skeleton chuckled “And now, back to duty!” I was about to warn the skeleton since I hadn't paid him yet, but he left at supersonic speed before I could. That made me feel guilty, but I promised to myself I would've gave him his money the next time I encountered him.

After finally regaining my composure, I turned around and looked at the new building: a huge mansion was in front of me, it reminded me of an ancient Greek temple for some reason. The walls were white as light and they were made out of authentic marble: I remembered Asriel once told me he had imported marble from Botticino in Italy only for it's construction...the huge pillars at the corners of the edifice gave the squared mansion an imposing aura, accentuated by the marble it was made of. The windows were as big and decorated as the ones in the previous Town Hall, and those beautiful carved flowers returned as well, much to my relief. Some red curtains with the Delta Rune carved on them descended from the roof: as if the building didn't look “royal” enough...

The same question I had when I started working at the precedent Town Hall struck me: did I deserve working in such a...magnificent place? Of course, Asriel kept reminding me of how important I was to him but...I didn't feel like I was the right person, that's all. I wasn't experienced, I wasn't recommended by anyone, heck, I didn't even think I looked good...but he kept reassuring me that I was fine, perfectly fine. And I wanted to believe him.

I entered the building: three long corridors, one in front of me and two at my sides, extended before me. The walls were made with mahogany wood and decorated with precious furniture such as small tables, candelabra and even flowers...apart from the latter, everything was made of gold, silver or some other precious gem. The floor was covered by an extremely long carpet made with red silk and decorated with small, golden finish. The place was even more squared inside: the corridors intersected between one another at regular intervals creating huge rooms, which I was sure Asriel was going to tour me through.

The place seemed to have multiple floors as well, so I was definitely going to get lost in there. Who was I going to ask directions to, Asriel? He was nowhere to be seen...but I soon spotted a girl hastily walking towards me; she probably came from around the corner, that would've explained why I didn't see her before.

She was somewhat tall, slim, she looked beautiful...even sexy, for that matter. I don't even want to talk about her breasts, they were the perfect size...everything about that girl's body made me jealous. She had long, black, curly hair and blue eyes. She wore a formal red jacket and a magnificent black pencil skirt: combined with tall black heels that looked like they came straight from the 50's, her outfit was the definition of vintage. That small rouge purse she was carrying with her, though...yes, vintage is exactly how I would describe it.

She stopped right in front of me and glared at me inquisitive; since she wasn't saying a word, I dared to ask “Excuse me, where's prince Asriel?”

She kept looking at me until she finally exclaimed “You're too beautiful!” she had a familiar British accent, but I couldn't remember where I first heard it.

“I'll take that as a compliment...” I cautiously answered, unsure of what to say next.

“Stay away from my boyfriend...” she leered as she warned me “...Or you will have a generally unpleasant experience, my lady.”

I backed off a few steps as I answered “Oooookay...” this woman was scary, that was for sure... plus, she was as difficult to understand as everyone else in that town: what did she want from me again?

She suddenly burst in laughter: she had to keep her stomach with both her hands, she was laughing that hard. For some reason, I found her laugh classy...even stylish, it sounded so good it had to be fake or at least trained. I could've listened to that laugh forever without ever getting tired.

“Well, you took that much better than I thought you would...” she finally managed to say “...But that “okay”, wow...that was priceless! You should've seen your face, my lady, your weirded expression made my day!” she kept chuckling for a while before returning to her serious expression “Now that that's over, let us introduce ourselves. I am Alice Wallace, a reporter for a British magazine.”

She offered me her hand to shake, which I shook estranged “H-Hi...I'm Elizabeth Starseeker, Asriel Dreemurr's lawyer.”

“Oh, I already know about you.” she stopped me “You're the girl who destroyed that fanatic prosecutor the other day! I've watched you, that was the most amazing trial I have ever spectated!” she rolled her eyes as she added “...Even though it was the only one I ever watched, to be honest.”

I blushed as I pointed out “Well, it wasn't the other day, it was a week or so ago...anyway, I didn't see you in the audience, nor in the jury. Sorry, I don't think I recall ever seeing you before...”

“I wasn't in the audience.” she explained “I observed the entire process from a room specifically built for reporters. Me and other journalists watched the entire thing live without anyone knowing it...well, except the judge of course. I have to thank you, that was one of the best articles I've ever written!”

I blushed even more furiously as I tried to change the subject “You said you were a reporter, right? For what magazine?”

“An important British magazine called “The World Today”. It's about news, entertainment, variety...anything, as long as it's interesting. I work as a foreign reporter here in Eastern Ebott, I write articles about life here, interesting events...monsters...” she winked at me “You would be surprised to know how many people that live here are actually reporters for this or that journal...I'm making a small fortune now that monster-related news are the main topic world-wide.” she explained proudly.

“Wow, that's a cool work! I hope your articles are monster-friendly, though...I don't think monsters deserve any hate at all.” I tested my luck with an aimed question.

“You find me on your side.” she answered, a bit saddened “Some of these reporters spread...untruthful news. The usual extremists, they've always been a thing. Thankfully, they're only a small minority in our community...an isolated minority, for that matter. Those guys are the worst, I can assure you that.” she pretended to spit onto something, which made me chuckle.

“I bet your boyfriend is proud of having such a successful girl by his side.”

“Oh, you flatter me, my lady.” she blushed slightly as she made a gesture with her hand “But, truth be told, my lover gains much more money than I do.”

“Oh, really?” for some reason, that affirmation made a chill run down my spine. I knew where this conversation was going. And who her boyfriend was.

“You see, you are very well acquainted with my boyfriend. He works as the prince's right-hand man, after all. His name is Dante Alighieri, like the poet.” of course. It had to be him...but that meant that she was...

I facepalmed immediately upon realization, as I embarrassingly asked “So you're the girl from yesterday? The one who came in with the motorbike?”

“And that landed on that motherfucker's face, yes.” she proudly replied “You have to admit, that was awesome, wasn't it?”

“Weren't you scared?”

“Not at all. You know how they say, “You only live once”...I ain't afraid of doing stupid things at all, what fun would life be if everyone always did the same things? People need to change their habits, they need to try doing perilous stuff...at least I need to do it!” that answer didn't satisfy me at all, in fact I thought she was sorta missing the point, but I accepted it nonetheless. I didn't want to risk it by telling her otherwise.

“Elizabeth, my dear.” Asriel approached us from a nearby corridor, he was still wearing his favorite penguin-like attire “I thought I heard you from upstairs, and here you are! I see you have met miss Wallace. Good, that allows us to skip formal presentations.”

“Formal presentation is exactly the opposite of how we introduced ourselves.” the woman leered at the monster “You have good taste in women, prince Asriel. I wonder how much time will pass until you-”

“Miss Wallace, please!” he stopped her before she could say another word “I understand that you've got a British sense of humor, but such kind of jokes are not tolerated here! Especially when I am the main subject!” he angrily reprimanded, making the woman laugh “In two months, you haven't changed one bit! You're always so serious, so focused...whatever, I have business I must attend to.” she took her phone from her purse and started typing at lightning speed “...I have to update my status on Twitter...”

“Also, no matter what Dante says...” Asriel shouted at her as she exited the building “You are NOT invited to the meeting!”

“Sure, sure, whatever...what happened last night is enough to settle me for the entire week.” she reassured him as she finally disappeared from our sight.

“That girl...” I pointed out “She's so...”  
“No adjectives can describe her, in my opinion.” Asriel pointed out “She's the only girl that manages to tolerate Dante...and he is the only one capable of tolerating her. They are perfect for each other.” he pointed to the direction from where he came from: there were some stairs that brought to the upper floor, and we began walking towards them.

“By the way, did Dante bring you here? There is absolutely no way you could have-”

“Papyrus.” I immediately answered, not letting him finish.

“Congratulations are in order. I thought the only one that could handle one of his “trips” was Frisk...”

“She is.” I chuckled as I explained “It was hard, but I made it.”

The goat chuckled as he informed me “So, about that meeting we mentioned...”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I doubt I managed to make justice to Alice's character, I've had limited experiences with British people (to be honest, none. I doubt Irish can be considered British...) and so i wasn't sure what stereotypes she was going to incarnate.  
> So I thought "Let's make her a badass and a bad comedian at the same time!" and thus her full character was born.  
> I hope you like her, if you haven't voted on the current strawpoll here it is:  
> http://strawpoll.me/6948269


	17. XI: Justice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth and Asriel visit a certain room of the new Town Hall, where she meets a peculiar Royal Guard...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit this took a while to finish. And it's probably still full of errors so...please don't kill me.  
> Anyway, I hope you like it, I'll see you guys later.

From what I was seeing, the new Town Hall was even more beautiful and regal than the previous one: sure, it wasn't as big and it didn't have that...almost oppressive aura of magnificence, but the quality and preciousness of...literally everything made me jealous. I wondered if I would've ever became this rich, eventually...probably not: I wasn't worthy of such a luxurious lifestyle.

“Did you design this place by yourself? With all the gold stuff, the precious gems...” I inquired as we walked through those seemingly endless corridors.

“To be honest, no, I did not: Temmie designed this Town Hall and her team built it, as you already know. I gave her a budget and...well, she used all of the money. Literally all of it.”

“She didn't give you back even a penny?” I asked, curious.

“Not even a penny.”

Eventually, after a few minutes of walking aimlessly (I soon found out Asriel hadn't figured out the complete layout of the building yet), we reached a door that looked slightly different than the others: it's design was practically identical to all the other doors, but...something about it felt a bit wrong. I asked Asriel what was behind that door.

“We're interrogating those terrorists in this room.” he said, expressionlessly. It took me a while to understand what he said: now that he mentioned it, that room was indeed a bit bigger than the other ones. Noises came from behind the door, they looked like people talking...but I couldn't understand a word of what they said.

“W-Why did you bring me here? You know I'm just your lawyer, do you?” I asked, confused.

“Yes, I do.” he answered without looking at me in the eyes “But...I do not have a good reason not to bring you here.”

I didn't understand what he meant “Can you be more...you know, comprehensible?”

He looked in my eyes: his gaze was warm, cold, fiery, soft...I felt all sorts of sensations and emotions while he spoke “It's been two weeks since you began working here, and in this two weeks you have helped me more than I could ever hope you did. In fact, if I try to remember how I managed to do...everything before you came, I just can't. You are not just my lawyer anymore, you are...my best friend, you are part of my family.” he shed a tear as he said those last words, which made him stop and wipe it off before more could appear “Damn it, I am such a crybaby...”

“No, you're not.” I tried to console him “...I think I understand what you mean now.”

“You do?” he asked, surprised.

“Nope.” I did my best not to laugh like a hyena: you should've seen his face, it was priceless...he was probably still pondering something along the lines of “Did she just...” only to stop there, not able to give himself a full answer.

Since he was like paralyzed from my unexpected joke, I decided to open the door for him: I found myself in a poorly lit antechamber, there were a table, some chairs, a few machines of unknown purpose and a huge, crystalline glass panel. The only light source in the room was in the smaller room beyond the glass panel: inside that smaller room were another table, smaller than the one in the main room, two chairs and a few other devices.

A man sat on one of the chairs: I recognized him as one of the terrorists that attacked us the day before, but he didn't look dangerous anymore, or so I thought. His torso was naked, he was barefoot: the only piece of clothing he was wearing were green, military-style jeans. His wrists, his ankles...his whole body was bound against the chair by thick, seemingly unbreakable ropes.

Someone else was in the room: they were wearing a red hood and cape, so I found it extremely difficult to identify them.

“Oh, you're here.” someone greeted me: of course, it was none other than Dante, sitting on one of the chairs in this room and sipping his cappuccino like there were no tomorrow “I was wondering when you would've visited.”

“You know, a simple “hi” would've been enough, don't you think?” I replied sarcastic.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of their bed...” he chuckled as he sipped more of his beverage “...But yeah, greetings...and stuff.” he turned to look at what was happening in the other room.

I got closer to the glass panel: the bound guy tried to put up some sort of defense as the inquisitor punched, kicked and hit him everywhere trying to get something out of him. I had seen such...brutal methods only in films before, I would've never expected such efficiency in real life...especially in Eastern Ebott.

“I know what you're thinking...” Dante pointed at a chair next to him and offered me to sit there; I sat there and he continued, trying to distract me from what was going on in the torture chamber “...You're going to ask me “isn't that a bit too much?” or something like that, aren't you?”

I gulped: he took it as a yes “Believe me, it's not worth it. Have you already forgotten what happened yesterday?”

“Yeah, but...that's too much even for a-”

“Even for a potential murderer?” he interrupted me; my eyes couldn't turn away from his cold, expressionless stare “He could've killed you, you know that right? He wouldn't have hesitated too.” he sipped more of his coffee, closing his eyes for a second in the process. As I wondered how much liquid that cup could store, he added “There are two types of person in this world: the ones that deserve your mercy and the ones that don't.” he pointed at the guy, who was still being hurt everywhere by the clothed torturer “...What kind do you think he belongs to?”

I didn't answer that question, I didn't want to at all. I would've felt horrible if I did, I wouldn't have ever believed those words came from my mouth.

I tried to get change his viewpoint on the subject “But, if you do such things to him...don't you automatically become the villain?”

He chuckled as he got up from his seat and turned away; at the time I couldn't think of a good reason as for why he would do such a thing...but I soon learned why. If I dared to look at him in the eyes as he answered my question, I would've probably been scarred for life “Who are you, exactly, to judge what is good and bad, what is right and wrong? Has someone ever wrote a book about that subject? A book that everyone, and with “everyone” I literally mean “everyone”, can a-hundred percent believe undeniably correct? No? No. Such book will never exist because there are no such things as “right” or “wrong”: everything is relative, it depends on the situation, the doer, the receiver...there are so many variables that it's impossible to establish a criteria for everyone to follow. So, here's my interpretation: everything is correct, everything is right if done in the right circumstances...in fact, even the worst killer can become the most popular hero if the situation dictates so...” he chuckled as he moved towards the glass panel and looked on the other side “...That, Elizabeth, is justice. Justice is not a person, a thing, a sentiment: it's a concept. Justice is giving everyone what they deserve...in the worst case scenario, which is the one that is going on right, it means serving revenge...” I understood everything if what he said...and that scared me. I didn't like what he said, at all. If I had to believe that everything he said up until then was correct, then...

“We're trying to protect monsterkind, aren't we? How much do we care about these worthless, insignificant scums? Nothing. They signed their own death sentences the precise moment they entered that building yesterday holding a weapon, when they tried to kill Frisk, when they tried to blow up our city. They signed for it. They asked for it. We gave them what they deserved. Death, torture, pain.”

I heard something behind me, so I turned backwards only to stop Asriel listening to the man's speech intently: he was speechless, he didn't know what to say. I hadn't even realized he was there in the first place, to be honest.

Dante turned towards us, a more normal and carefree expression on his face “You know, it's been a while since Red last had a break. I think it's my turn to have some fun with the idiot.” he walked towards one of the devices in front of the pane and said “Hey girl, how's it going inside there?” he was spoke like a television presenter, which made Asriel chuckle faintly “You have to take a break, but don't worry: I got you covered, partner.” inside the chamber, the tortured panic began to panic when he realized Dante was about to come in: I couldn't hear what he was yelling, but it was pretty obvious he was asking for mercy or something like that.

I did prove some pity for that man, even if only a little.  
As Dante entered the room, a monster exited via the same door: I realized she was a female, she wore a red cape (obviously), some sort of fusion between an armor and a shirt, black tight pants and tall white boots. She had long, curly orange hair and weird, white eyes. Her face was sorta canine, which I found a bit strange...until I finally realized who that girl was: she was the monster who saved Frisk the night before, the one with the shiny sword and the fearless expression.

She whispered something to the man before letting him inside the room. I didn't want to look at what happened inside the torture chamber anymore, I knew Dante would've been far worse than this “Red”...she sat at the table and Asriel followed suit. She took her hood off: she looked very human-like for a monster, despite the aforementioned canine traits.

“Good afternoon, Lord Asriel.” she saluted her prince while bowing slightly in his direction, while sitting “I am relived to see you in good health.” her voice was soft and delicate like an angel's.

“There's no reason to be so formal, Red.” Asriel replied as he eyes suspiciously the beverage Dante had left behind “...After all, we met earlier today and you-”

“And I greeted you like that even then.” she answered, a smile forming on her face “...I will repeat it as many times as I have to, if necessary. There's no reason not to say something you want to, is it?” she was so different from Dante, she was so...elegant. I liked this girl already, she reminded me a bit of Frisk.

“Anyway, I do not think you know my lawyer...” he turned towards me and made the formal presentations “Red, this is Elizabeth Starseeker, my lawyer and employee. Elizabeth, this is Red, one of the best Royal Guard I have ever had.” I squinted at him for an instant: two words to describe me and an entire phrase for her? What a jerk.

“I'm honored to meet you.” she extended her hand “I've heard a lot about you, even though I've never actually seen how that trial went...”

I shook her hand as I blushed “Oh, don't worry, it wasn't that big of a deal...”

“As modest as ever, I see.” Asriel said as he chuckled: that made me even more embarrassed. Meanwhile, he asked Red if the subject revealed any important information.

“We managed to get a few important details regarding yesterday's incident out of this particular terrorist, but the other two still refuse to...cooperate.”

“I wouldn't exactly define it “cooperation”...” I pointed out, which earned me a squint from Asriel “...But, yeah, you're doing a great job.”

“Thank you.” she thanked me even though she knew that was flat out flattery “The interrogation is still in progress, so I would advise returning here later...alternatively, you could wait until that meeting we have in a few hours.”

“Do not worry, I am not particularly interested in hearing that information right now...” Asriel got up and headed for the door “We should go, Elizabeth, there are a few documents that need to be written and proofread before that meeting actually takes place...”

Before I left the room, I asked Red something that bugged me out tremendously “How do you manage to do it? To torture those guys, I mean...” she didn't answer directly: instead, she asked Asriel if she could speak with me for a while.

“Sure, just a few minutes though.” he exited the room, leaving me and Red alone.

“It's been two months...” she started “Since I officially joined the Royal Guard. Before the barrier was broken, I was only a rookie, a potential candidate...but then he came...” I looked towards Dante, who was...I don't even want to describe what he was doing “You mean him?”

“Yes, Dante...” I already know this train went down memory lane “He saw the potential within me, and trained me personally. From rookie, I became second in command after Undyne...it was like a dream come true, to me. But the path I chose wasn't an easy one to walk on: I had to train each day, I suffered, I tired myself out...Dante was the best and worst instructor I could've ever had at the same time. I overcame my own limits, but...the more time I spent with him, the more my fighting style became brutal and merciless.”

“Does he know he's doing this to you?” I asked her, worried.

“Yes, he does.” she sighed “I told him as soon as I realized it. He said we could interrupt our training any time, that it was probably his presence to influence me like that...he told me he didn't want me to become like him, those were his precise words...but I chose to continue nonetheless.” she got up and looked at me in the eyes “I am a Royal Guard, I am the sworn defender of this nation. I will do whatever I have to to ensure the safety of my country, of my people...even if it costs me my honor, my integrity, my very heart and being.” those harsh, regal words contrasted with her soft and yet determined voice.  
I thanked her, saluted her and exited the room. Now I knew what Dante meant when he spoke about justice: he wasn't talking about what was going on inside the chamber. He was talking about her, about Red.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I thought I would've got a bigger reaction when I released last chapter...and instead I got nothing.  
> No comments, no funny jokes...nothing. Man, that's depressing.  
> If you liked this chapter (and you're still alive after hearing Dante speak) then please show your support with a comment! =3


	18. XX: Judgment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth is perplexed by Asriel's choices, but thanks to two people she manages to at least comprehend them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I'm such a dick, am I not? I chose to continue this fic in the worst possible moment, when school got hard and I had less and less time at my disposal...fuck.  
>  So yeah, I said I would've continued this fic and then got absent for three weeks. Because I love keeping promises. =/  
> Not to mention that my interest for this fic is diminuishing more and more as time goes on, so I am forced to take extreme countermeasures to ensure the continuity of this fic.  
> Further information is in the notes at the bottom, for now read this chapter. =3

“Wait, there's a cafeteria in this place?” I asked, curious and excited.

“I am pretty sure there is at least one.” Asriel answered, with his usual calm and polite tone “If you desire so, we can spend our time there until the meeting starts.”

After entering the room Dante and Red used to interrogate the prisoners, I felt a lot more stressed than I should've: even though I promised myself, starting from the day I began earning money, never to drink more than one cup of coffee per day, I felt like I could make an exception in that occasion...either that or I would've had to go to a psychiatrist.

Even though what Dante said about Justice sounded at least partially true, I couldn't stop thinking about how all that torturing was...wrong, in and of itself. Despite those people deserved all of it for trying to harm innocent creatures...hurting them mercilessly like that felt inappropriate. What would've happened if someone that Asriel didn't trust gained access to that information? It would've caused a scandal of epic proportions...I doubted the American Government would've let that one slide.

I planned to talk about that with Asriel as soon as we arrived to the cafeteria; that reminded me, why was there a cafeteria in a Town Hall in the first place? I asked that question to the Prince, who sighed as he answered “As I said at least a dozen times before, I was not the one to design this place. If you really want an answer, ask Temmie the next time we see her...which, knowing her and how clingy she is, will probably happen relatively soon.”

The cafeteria was at the uppermost floor, from the looks of it: we had to climb up the stairs to reach said floor, and doing so brought us to a long corridor, with no side-ways or dead ends. There were rooms left and right, and I immediately saw an office on our right. I asked Asriel if that was supposed to be our new office, but even he wasn't sure “I will have to ask Temmie later: this place is even more maze-like than the whole Underground itself!” I found that affirmation a bit funny, to be honest: the thought of a building being more labyrinthine than a whole country was a bit...unrealistic, yet so true.

We soon spotted the cafeteria (from a sign right outside the door that explicated so) and entered it: it wasn't too big for a cafeteria, there were only three tables and eight chairs from the looks of it. Both the chairs and the tables were made of plastic, which...kinda felt a bit weird considering how regal the rest of the building was. The counter was full of machines of all kind and the shelves behind it were full of bottles containing all sorts of liquids...some of them didn't look like beverages at all, but maybe that was because they were Underground specialties...especially the one that was labeled “Liquid Nitrogen”.

We sat at a table and waited there patiently for a waiter to serve us...only to realize that there were no waiters. At first I was a bit confused...but then I remembered that the place was brand new, so of course Asriel had forgotten about hiring a waiter.

“It seems as though we have to prepare our coffee by ourselves.” Asriel pointed out “Do not worry though: I know perfectly how to make it! Dante explained it to me a few weeks ago, just before you arrived.” he got up and headed for the counter “Wait for me here, I will be back in a minute.”

“Don't you want me to help you?” I inquired.

“I thank you for your kind offer, but I believe I am more than capable of accomplishing my task alone.” was he pretending that I had offended him? From the looks of it, it was indeed a joke: he was smiling, after all “Besides, it would be rude for me not to do so: I am a chevalier, after all.” the self-irony was as stingy as a bee's stinger.

Thankfully, he stayed true to his word: he was indeed capable of activating the coffee machine; however, he needed to go grab the coffee from the storage room in the back of the bar, so he went through a door behind the counter and disappeared from my sight.

As soon as I turned my gaze from that door, I saw a familiar face...or rather, a familiar skull in front of me “Hey.” I jumped away, and fell backwards with my chair...but some kind of force prevented me from hitting the ground and returned me and my chair to our original position in front of the table.

“Well, I didn't expect you to react so harshly.” he snickered “By the way, did you know there's a “monster” under this table?” that made me even more scared: I looked under the table...and found a can of “Monster” between Sans' slippers. How funny...not.

“Did you really have to do it?” I asked, unsurprised.

“Of course I did.” he answered nonchalantly “One of these days, I'll get you.”

“You never will.” I sighed, smiling “Anyway, how are you doing?”

“Oh, pretty well...I've been working with Alphys on the security system all night: we did a few tweaks here and there, I'm sure we'll detect suspicious activity much faster now.” I was grateful for that, I didn't want to relive the traumatic experience of the night before any time soon “Can I ask you a random question?” he asked me.

“Sure, what is it?”

“What do you think about Asriel?” he looked a lot more serious now “Honestly.”

I was a bit taken aback from the sudden question...but I felt like I needed to tell him the truth “Well, I saw what Dante and Red have been doing with the captured gunslingers and...well, I just find it a bit weird that Asriel's letting all that happen. It just...doesn't feel like something he would do, that's it...” I was scared for Asriel, and also...scared that I had been mistaken on his personality: maybe he was much more sinister than I had anticipated.

“Listen, kiddo.” he closed his eyesockets, somehow, and explained “Asriel's gone through a lot in this period...he faced many challenges that a normal person wouldn't be able to overcome and he nailed them...he faced a lot of opposition from the humans but he ignored them or solved the conflicts...he is the leader we need...and the one we deserve, in my opinion.”

“Yeah, but...”

“But he has some flaws.” the skeleton explicated “He doesn't rely on his emotions as much as he should: since he puts the well-being of monsterkind before anything else, sometimes he makes...unethical choices. I think his sibling, Chara, is at least partially responsible for that.” I still had trouble understanding the whole “Chara” thing...but I let him finish “So, do me a favor: if you want to critic his choices, you're free to do so. It's a democratic country after all...sort of. But please, don't ever critic his character.” he looked away as he added “Trust me, I know when people deserve some respect...and he deserves much more than that.”

The door to the storage room opened and Sans disappeared as soon as the Asriel fur-covered face became visible “Sorry if I took a while: I could not find the damn thing...” he finally managed to prepare our coffee and sat right where the skeleton was sitting on before he left “Wow, it's cold...did I really stay over there for that long?” he asked jokingly, but befuddled. Thankfully, he didn't realize someone had been there before him...

I drank my coffee quickly, without savoring it: too bad, it was pretty damn good...Asriel, however, savored it until the last drop. He looked like he needed it, after all.

“You seem...distracted.” he looked at me, worried “Is something wrong?”

I wasn't sure of what to answer: before, I felt like I knew perfectly what to ask him...but now, I wasn't so sure. I was afraid of being misled, of having misinterpreted...I felt like, if I questioned Asriel's methods, I would've lost his trust...and his friendship, perhaps. Still, I needed to ask him: how could I pretend to have his trust if I didn't trust him in return, after all?

“Asriel, I have something I need to ask you: why are you allowing such...things to happen to those prisoners? I know, they're terrorists and they tried to kill us but...the torture they're suffering...it doesn't feel like something you would do! There has to be another way...I don't want you to do things that you might regret one day...” I tried to look as convincing as possible.

“ **I think I can answer that question.** ” Chara, of course. A part of me wanted to hear the answer directly from Asriel...but the other wanted an answer, independently from who gave it to me “ **Look girl, it's clear you have entered my brother's graces...and, even though I personally hate everyone who he benefits with his trust, I have to respect his decision and act accordingly. But that is more because I am forced to than because I really want to.** ” I wanted to reply to him sarcastically...but I felt like I wouldn't have liked the consequences “ **Either way, I am getting off-track: you asked for an answer, and an answer you shall get.** ”

The goat coughed a little before explaining “ **I do not know if you figured it out yet or not, but my brother never wanted “that” to happen: in fact, he was against it from the beginning. However, it was the most time-efficient way to get information from those idiots** _ **and**_ **we needed that information before the FBI arrived so...he** _ **had**_ **to accept. He did not want to...but he had to. Sometimes being a leader is not about doing what you want, but doing what you do not want to.** ”

“I feel like that phrase comes from a movie or something.” I answered, trying to make the atmosphere less heavy. I failed, but at least I tried.

“ **If you need a more detailed explanation, here it is: my brother was not prepared. He never was. When we arrived to the Surface and my brother was given the task to colonize the human world, he was not prepared. We had to learn, together, to get where we are now. We made lots of sacrifices, our people made lots of sacrifices...because we wanted to live more than anything else. We wanted to be free...but freedom has a cost. Freedom for a nation is a burden for a King...or a Prince, in this case: I do not know if you remember, but I think we did mention you we had to ask Alphys to hack into security networks to get access to private information...if we did not do it, we would have never found out that the American Government was lying to us. Do you seriously think that we could have discovered it if we did not break the rules?** ” his logic made perfect sense...I felt dirty simply admitting it.

“No, you didn't...but...”

“ **But nothing. We are doing what we can to make sure this country survives...to make sure that all monsters survive. If you still think we could govern Eastern Ebott better...then do it. Come on, I** _ **dare**_ **you to take our place.** ” was he being serious? From the looks of it, he was.

Chara leered at me as they added “ **...At least my brother would be lifted from the burden of the choices he had and has to make...** ” the monster closed his eyes and, when he reopened them, the gaze in them felt different, warmer “I am extremely sorry...my sibling still has not learned how to talk to my assistant...”

“Asriel, I'm not your assistant.” he looked at me confused “I'm your friend, and I only want to help you. You did so much for me even though we barely met...I just want to repay you one way or the other. I'm scared for you...I'm scared for you to become the shadow of yourself, but not...I understand you have to make difficult choices. I...I just want you to warn me next time you...approve something like torturing prisoners. I want to at least _try_ to stop you...if I can, of course.”

“Of course you can.” Asriel smiled at me kindly “I do not want you to worry about me...but I guess that is one of the downsides of being friends with someone.”

“A downside? I wouldn't exactly call it that...” I pointed out “It shows the people you worry about that you care for them, after all. Isn't that a positive thing?”

He chuckled as he admitted, while scratching the back of his head “You are right, I think...I am sorry, I am not very well-informed on “friendships” and such...”

“First off, stop apologizing.” I got up and signaled him to do the same “Secondly, how the hell do you not know about “friendship”? Have you been living under a rock for eighty years?”

“Actually, I have been living under a mountain for eighty years.” he snickered and added “But seriously, it's a long story. One that, unfortunately, I cannot tell you about right now: the meeting starts soon, and we better be there when it starts.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...extreme countermeasures. Here's why:  
> I decided that, as it is right now, this fic can't go on. I can't keep writing something I'm not interested in, as the end product just flat out sucks. I've been evaluating three options in the past month:  
> -Stopping working on this fic (DENIED)  
> -Resume this fic later this Summer (DENIED)  
> -Let someone else take over (APPROVED)
> 
> So, my dear reader and/or writer. Do you think you have the balls (or...something else =3) to help me write this novel?  
> If you do, here's my e-mail address (francolosio@gmail.com).  
> Send me a fan-made chapter that can be focused around a character of your chosing (any character is fine as long as it's primary or secondary and not a normal monster/npc) that can be as long as you want. If I think you've got the qualities to be Hex's little helper, then I will contact you immediately and offer you the job! =3  
> You will receive 100%/75% of the credit and I will put a link to your profile in all the descriptions in this fic so that people will know who you are (and they will check you out, because you will have deserved it). You will receive blank page (or at least, mostly blank page) on how to proceed but you will have to follow my guidelines (because otherwise you would just transform this work in something that it isn't) and I will also want to supervise your work periodically.
> 
> So, that's it. Other than that, once school is over I will try to release the second chapter of When Paths Cross as soon as I can, because I've been wanting to continue it for a while now. Anyway, bye! =3


	19. HUGE UPDATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I made a similar post pretty much everywhere else, so I thought I might as well leave one here as well.

So... is there anyone else left after all this time? My 'statistics' claim twenty people or so re still subscribed to this story, which is amazing... considering it was written poorly and without much coherence. Seriously, this fiction is just plain bad, and my worse work out of the original three I made: I'm considering taking it down, but I decided to let it stay up because some people might be interested in it after all.

 

Anwyay, here's the big update, an update I should've made a million years ago: THIS STORY IS DEAD. No more chapters, no more plot, no more anything. Moreover, I should let you know another big thing I decided and never told anyone: THIS STORY IS NO LONGER CANON, at least for the purposes of my Undertale AU series. What I mean by that is: the part where the monsters get out of the mountain captained by Asriel Dreemurr and create their own country is canon, but not the part about Elizanbeth (a character that could've had much more meaning and personality and that, in the end, just felt bland and even useless) and her job as an attorney... although, perhaps she did come and helped out Asriel, just not in the way I portrayed her in this fiction. However, whether that is the case or not I have yet to decide...

 

So, now that you know there's nothing left for you to see here... what will you do? Will you leave, knowing you had your fun while it lasted? Will you go and look up my other works, yearning to understand the lore behind this sequel that just wasn't supposed to happen? Or, in case you already did that... do you want to know more? Do you want to read the REAL sequel to my Undertale AU? Do you want to know what happened to Dante, Frisk and the others? Then I suggest you read my new novel, 'Project R.E.D.', which contains the answers you seek... except they have not been written yet, and may raise more questions than they solve.

 

I won't tell you to come, as this is a completely different novel that is separated from my other fictions so that it may be appreciated by both my new public and my old viewers as well... but I'll tell you this: it's good. Real good. A million times better than this monstrousity right here. It might not become as popular as my older works, but it will stand on its own with the conscience of being better than all of them combined. So please, pay a visit: you may just enjoy it as much as I do. (http://archiveofourown.org/works/8189848).

 

Without anything left to say and wishing to end this horrible sequel once and for all, I thank you all for you presence and your patience.

-Hex.


End file.
